EP3243835B1 - Albumin variants and conjugates - Google Patents

Albumin variants and conjugates Download PDF

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EP3243835B1
EP3243835B1 EP17156183.0A EP17156183A EP3243835B1 EP 3243835 B1 EP3243835 B1 EP 3243835B1 EP 17156183 A EP17156183 A EP 17156183A EP 3243835 B1 EP3243835 B1 EP 3243835B1
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human
protein
chemokine
receptor
albumin
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EP3243835A1 (en
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Jason Cameron
Christopher John Arthur Finnis
Esben Peter Friis
Joanna Mary Hay
Darrell Sleep
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Albumedix Ltd
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Albumedix Ltd
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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
    • C07K14/435—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from animals; from humans
    • C07K14/76—Albumins
    • C07K14/765—Serum albumin, e.g. HSA
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
    • C07K14/435—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from animals; from humans
    • C07K14/76—Albumins
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
    • A61K38/00—Medicinal preparations containing peptides
    • A61K38/16—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
    • A61K38/17—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from animals; from humans
    • A61K38/38—Albumins
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
    • A61K47/00—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient
    • A61K47/30—Macromolecular organic or inorganic compounds, e.g. inorganic polyphosphates
    • A61K47/42—Proteins; Polypeptides; Degradation products thereof; Derivatives thereof, e.g. albumin, gelatin or zein
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P17/00—Drugs for dermatological disorders
    • A61P17/02—Drugs for dermatological disorders for treating wounds, ulcers, burns, scars, keloids, or the like
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K1/00—General methods for the preparation of peptides, i.e. processes for the organic chemical preparation of peptides or proteins of any length
    • C07K1/107—General methods for the preparation of peptides, i.e. processes for the organic chemical preparation of peptides or proteins of any length by chemical modification of precursor peptides
    • C07K1/113—General methods for the preparation of peptides, i.e. processes for the organic chemical preparation of peptides or proteins of any length by chemical modification of precursor peptides without change of the primary structure
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G16—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
    • G16B—BIOINFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR GENETIC OR PROTEIN-RELATED DATA PROCESSING IN COMPUTATIONAL MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
    • G16B5/00—ICT specially adapted for modelling or simulations in systems biology, e.g. gene-regulatory networks, protein interaction networks or metabolic networks
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K2319/00—Fusion polypeptide

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to conjugation competent polypeptides comprising at least 60% identity to SEQ ID No: 1 (wild-type human serum albumin) and a cysteine at a position corresponding to position 294 of SEQ ID No: 1, and to their conjugates with at least one moiety, and to polynucleotides encoding them.
  • Serum albumins provide valuable scaffolds to which bioactive molecules may be fused, either through genetic fusions or chemical fusions to improve the properties of the fused molecule(s) ( Leger, R. et al. (2004). Bioorg Med Chem Lett 14(17): 4395-8 ; Thibaudeau, K., et al. (2005). Bioconjug Chem 16(4): 1000-8 ; Balan, V. et al. (2006). Antivir Ther 11(1): 35-45 ; EP 0 413 622 ; WO 90/13653 ; EP 1 681 304 ; WO 1997/024445 ; WO 01/79271 ).
  • Albumins and albumin particles are also important for carrying and delivering drugs and prodrugs to their sites of action ( Kratz (2008) Journal of Controlled Release, 132 (3), p.171-183 ). Fusion and particle technologies offer improved dosing regimes due to improved pharmacokinetic properties, such as half-life extension, and may improve bioavailability and protect the fused bioactive molecule from inactivation.
  • HSA Human serum albumin
  • SEQ ID No. 1 The sequence of HSA is provided in SEQ ID No. 1. Natural variants of HSA occur and a list of know polymorphisms is given in Minchiotti et al. (2008). Hum Mutat 29(8): 1007-16., and at http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/P02768 .
  • the HSA polypeptide chain has 35 cysteine residues, which form 17 disulphide bonds and one unpaired (free) cysteine at position 34 of the mature protein (Seq ID No. 1).
  • Cysteine-34 has been used to for conjugation of molecules to albumin ( Leger et al. (2004) Bioorg Med Chem Lett 14(17): 4395-8 ; Thibaudeau et al. (2005). Bioconjug Chem 16(4): 1000-8 ), and provides a precise, well defined site for conjugation.
  • conjugation at cysteine-34 provides only one site for attachment of a single moiety thus there is no choice of conjugation site.
  • the provision of a single conjugation sites means that only one moiety can be conjugated to each albumin molecule. What is required is an albumin molecule which provides one or more alternative attachment sites.
  • ⁇ thio-albumin' is used herein to describe an albumin variant which comprises one or more unpaired cysteine residues, particularly an albumin variant in which one or more of the unpaired cysteine residues does not occur in a naturally occurring variant of an albumin.
  • a thio-albumin is a 'conjugation competent albumin'.
  • a thio-albumin may be referred to as a 'cysteine variant of an albumin'.
  • albumin' includes naturally occurring albumin, albumin-related proteins and variants thereof such as natural and engineered variants. Variants include polymorphisms, fragments such as domains and sub-domains, fragments and/or fusion proteins.
  • the albumin may have at least 60, 70, 80, 90, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 % similarity or identity to SEQ ID No. 1.
  • a thio-albumin of the invention may be a derivative of, or be based on, any of such albumin.
  • the unpaired cysteine residues may be provided by insertion, deletion, substitution, addition or extension of an albumin sequence.
  • the invention also relates to a conjugate comprising at least one, for example 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, conjugation partners such as bioactive compounds and a polypeptide according to the invention
  • the invention also provides a method for designing conjugation-competent albumins.
  • a first aspect of the invention provides a method for designing and/or preparing variant albumins comprising one or more conjugation competent cysteine residues, the method comprising:
  • the polypeptide may be considered to be conjugation-competent.
  • an albumin may be referred to as a ⁇ thio-albumin' or as a 'cysteine varant' of an albumin.
  • the term 'conjugation competent cysteine' includes a cysteine which has a thiol which is not disulphide bonded to another cysteine and which is, preferably, not blocked from conjugating to another molecule (which may be referred to as a 'conjugation partner') due to unfavourable steric hindrances. That is, preferably the location of the cysteine within or on a folded polypeptide is such that it is available for conjugation.
  • a number of selection criteria may or may not be used alone or in any combination in order to identify suitable sites for introduction of a conjugation competent cysteine residue. Therefore, the invention provides a method and/or rules for a priori identification of sites of an amino acid sequence of albumin at which a conjugation competent cysteine may be introduced. Such sites may be referred to as 'candidate residues'.
  • the albumin sequence on which the variant albumin is based may be SEQ ID No. 1 or any other albumin.
  • the variant albumin may be be based on an albumin which does or does not have a cysteine at position 34 ot the amino acid sequence, or an equivalent position.
  • Cysteine residues may or may not be introduced by one or more of substitution, insertion, deletion, extension and addition. Sites may or may not be selected with reference to a 3-dimensional structure of an albumin or variant thereof. The following criteria may or may not be used to select suitable sites:
  • the surface accessibility is high.
  • the surface accessibility is at least 60%, more preferably, from 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 96, 97, 98 or 99 % to 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 or 100%.
  • % SASA may be determined as a 'raw score' using the methods described herein or may be calculated relative to the score of the residue which has the maximum surface accessibility in the protein.
  • the albumin of HSA 1AO6 has a maximum surface accessibility of 229.0 and this is the highest scoring residue in HSA.
  • a higher surface accessibility indicates that the residue is on the surface of the protein and is therefore available for binding.
  • Such accessibikity may be calculated using a method as described herein.
  • the B-factor indicates relative flexibility of an amino acid residue within a 3-dimensional structure.
  • the B-factor is from at least 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 or 90 % to at least 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 or 100 % which may or may not be relative to the maximal B-factor score of any amino acid residue within the molecule.
  • HSA e.g. 1AO6
  • the B-factor score is high, for example from at least 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, or 100 to at least 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 or 106 (for example using the B-factor scoring system described herein).
  • the B-factor score may be less than or equal to 100, 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, or 10 %, as described herein.
  • the B-Factor (root mean square fluctuations) of the C-alpha carbon atoms during the last nanosecond of the simulation may be calculated using the Gromacs tool "g_rmsf", version 3.3, based on D. van der Spoel, E. Lindahl, B. Hess, G. Groenhof, A. E. Mark and H. J. C. Berendsen: GROMACS: Fast, Flexible and Free, J. Comp. Chem. 26 pp. 1701-1718 (2005 ).
  • the candidate residue may or may not be located within secondary structure for example H (Helix), B (isolated beta bridge) or E (Extended sheet). Location of the residue outside of secondary structure indicates that the residue is less likely to be important to secondary structure and/or is more likely to be available for binding than a residue located within secondary structure.
  • a candidate residue shows a homology of less than 100 % relative to alignment of the albumin in which the residue is located with known albumins (e.g. mammalian albumins such as those shown in Fig. 2 or a combination of mammalian and non-mammalian albumins such as those shown in Fig. 3 ).
  • albumins e.g. mammalian albumins such as those shown in Fig. 2 or a combination of mammalian and non-mammalian albumins such as those shown in Fig. 3 .
  • a homology of less than 100, 98, 96, 95, 94, 92, 90, 85, 80, 75, 70, 65, 60, 55, 50, 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 is preferred.
  • Homology can be determined using algorithms known in the art such as Clustal, e.g. Clustal W ( Thompson et al. (1994). Nucleic Acids Res 22(22): 4673-80 ) or Clustal V ( Higgins, D. G. and P. M. Sharp (1989). "Fast and sensitive multiple sequence alignments on a microcomputer.” Comput Appl Biosci 5(2): 151-3 .). Lower homology indicates that the residue is not particularly important or critical to the structure and/or function of the protein. Preferably the homology is determined with reference to the sixteen mammalian albumins of Fig. 2 or the thirty three mammalian and non-mammalian albumins of Fig. 3 .
  • each residue has one or two adjacent residues. If a candidate residue is immediately adjacent one or more residues having a low homology, relative to known albumins, this indicates that the candidate residue is unlikely to be particularly important or critical to the structure and/or function of the protein. This is because the candidate residue is likely to be located within a relatively unconserved region of the protein. It is therefore preferred that the candidate residue is not adjacent a residue which has 100 % homology relative to alignment of the albumin with known albumins. Homology may be determined as described herein.
  • the candidate residue may be adjacent two residues (i.e.
  • the candidate residue is adjacent one or two residues having a homology of less than 100, 98, 96, 95, 94, 92, 90, 85, 80, 75, 70, 65, 60, 55, 50, 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 - these levels of homology may be referred to as 'thresholds'.
  • Homology may be determined as described herein.
  • the location of an amino acid relative to a conserved region may be quantified, for example by scoring an amino acid which is not adjacent any amino acid exceeding the homology threshold as 0, scoring an amino acid which is adjacent one amino acid exceeding the threshold as 1 and scoring an amino acid which adjacent two amino acids exceeding the threshold as 2.
  • a polymorphism is a genetic variation, a polymorphism may or may not cause a phenotypic change to the resultant protein.
  • the candidate residue is not at a position for which a polymorphism causing a phenotypic change is known. More preferably, the candidate residue is not at a position for which a polymorphism causes, or is known to cause, thermal instability.
  • Polymorphisms known for HSA SEQ ID No. 1 are detailed in Fig. 1 and are also discussed in Minchiotti et al. (2008). Hum Mutat 29(8): 1007-16 and at http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/P02768.
  • the presence, absence and/or effect of a polymorphism may be quantified, for example by scoring a known polymorphism that has no phenotypic change as 0, scoring a polymorphism where a phenotypic change is known (but not known to cause thermal instability) as 1 and scoring a polymorphism which is known to cause thermal instability as 2.
  • Fig. 4 is a Venn diagram which provides one system by which conservation level can be quantified.
  • the scoring system of Fig. 4 uses a scale of 0 to 5 in which substitutions of high conservation have a score of 0, substitutions of low conservation have a score of 5 and substitutions of intermediate conservation have a score of 1, 2, 3 or 4.
  • substitution of the candidate residue is not an unconserved substitution, that is preferably (using the scoring system of Fig. 4 ) the candidate residue does not have conservation score (relative to cysteine) of 5. More preferably the candidate residue has a higher conservation relative to cysteine (e.g. a score of 4, 3, 2 and, more preferably, 1).
  • the scoring system is descrived in the section entitled 'Conservative Substitution' (below).
  • the thio-albumin may or may not be capable of being expressed at a level of at least 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 or 100% relative to the expression of an unmodified albumin (such as SEQ ID No. 1) from a suitable expression system, such as yeast (e.g. Saccharomyces, e.g. S. cerevisiae ) or an Aspergillus.
  • yeast e.g. Saccharomyces, e.g. S. cerevisiae
  • Aspergillus yeast
  • Relative expression levels can be determined, for example, by expression of the protein followed by quantification by SDS-PAGE, HPLC or Western Blotting.
  • the thio-albumin may or may not have a high level of conjugation competence, for example at least 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 95 or 100 % relative to the conjugation competence of an albumin consisting of SEQ ID No. 1 having only one conjugation competent cysteine at Cys-34.
  • Conjugation competence may be determined relative to any conjugatable molecule (conjugation partner) of interest, for example a bioactive molecule or a fluorescent dye. Determination may be through mass spectrometry analysis or quantification of the activity of the bioactive compound such as its fluorescence.
  • An advantage of a thio-albumin having a high conjugation competence is that it may allow efficient conjugation of molecules to the thio-albumin.
  • Conjugation competence may be measured with respect to time.
  • Favoured thio-albumins may be (a) those which achieve maximal conjugation quickly or (b) slowly.
  • the thio-albumin of the invention may be conjugated to a compound (conjugation partner), for example a bioactive compound, such that the compound has a high level of activity relative to its activity in an unconjugated state.
  • a conjugated compound shows at least 1, 10, 20, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 80 and most preferably 100 % of its activity relative to its unconjugated state.
  • the conjugated- and/or non-conjugated thio-albumin may or may not have a receptor binding activity of at least 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 or 100 % of the receptor binding activity of human serum albumin (SEQ ID No. 1).
  • the conjugated- and/or non-conjugated thio-albumin may or may not have a lower receptor binding activity for example at most 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 or 90 % than human serum albumin.
  • Receptor binding activity may be determined by assay, such as in relation to binding to FcRn.
  • Fig. 1 shows the scores of each amino acid residue of HSA (SEQ ID No. 1) for each of parameters (a) to (g).
  • HSA is initially produced as a 609 amino acid protein in which the first twenty four amino acids are a leader sequence. The leader sequence is cleaved off to generate a 585 amino acid mature protein. Throughout this specification, the mature protein is referred to as SEQ ID No. 1.
  • the structure of HSA model A106 disregards the first four residues and the last three residues of SEQ ID No. 1 because these are unresolved in the 3D model. Therefore, residue 1 of model A106 is equivalent to residue 5 of SEQ ID No. 1.
  • all residues are cited with reference to SEQ ID No. 1, unless stated otherwise.
  • the immature sequence of HSA i.e. HSA with its natural C-terminal leader sequence
  • selection criteria can be used in any desired combination, four preferred groups of selection criteria (A, B, C, D) are described, by way of example only, below. Of these (A) and (B) may also be referred to as Selection Groups 1 and 2 (respectively):
  • candidate residues identified by selection criteria (A) include L585, D1, A2, D562, A364, A504, E505, T79 and E86 (in descending order of solvent accessibility) and are also shown in Fig. 5A .
  • Another preferred embodiment of the first aspect of the invention provides a method for designing and/or preparing a thio-albumin, the method comprising:
  • candidate residues identified by selection criteria include D129, D549, A581, D121, E82, S270, Q397 and A578 (in descending order of solvent accessibility) and are also shown in Fig. 5B .
  • Another preferred embodiment of the first aspect of the invention provides a method for designing and/or preparing a thio-albumin, the method comprising:
  • candidate residues identified by selection criteria (C) are shown in Fig. 5C .
  • candidate residues identified by selection criteria (D) are shown in Fig. 5D .
  • a candidate residue may be one or more of the cysteine residues involved in disulphide bonding present in the albumin molecule (in the case of HSA, SEQ ID No. 1, there are 17 disulphide bonds and therefore 34 cysteines involved in disulphide bonding).
  • Two cysteines which are linked by a disulphide bond may be referred to as 'counterparts'.
  • the candidate residue In order to generate a conjugation competent cysteine, the candidate residue may be deleted or may be substituted with a different amino acid, particularly Ser, Thr, Val or Ala in order to create a free thiol at the partner cysteine.
  • Cysteine residues were visually inspected using the PyMOL software (Warren L. DeLano "The PyMOL Molecular Graphics System.” DeLano Scientific LLC, San Carlos, CA, USA. http://www.pymol.org), and the cysteines in the disulphide bonds were divided into 3 categories:
  • the judgment is based on surface accessibility and the orientation of the C-alpha - C-beta bond of the potential free thiol relative to the folded polypeptide. Using this judgment each of the cysteine residues of HSA were given a modification score and ranked as high, medium or low.
  • Figure 6A provides a list of all the cysteine residues which have a high modification score (right hand column), indicating that modification of a cysteine residue at this position would result in its counterpart cysteine providing a free thiol that has a high probability of being suitable for use as a conjugation site.
  • Figure 6B provides a list of the counterpart cysteines that that, when unpaired (thus providing a free thiol), have a high probability of being suitable for use as a conjugation site
  • cysteine residues for modification could be further selected based on the other information provided in Figure 6A , such as assigned secondary structure, cysteine residues with no adjacent conserved residues (100% amongst mammalian albumins (aligned by Clustal W), no known polymorphisms causing phenotypic changes.
  • cysteine residues for modification could be selected by examining the environment of the cysteine residue (containing a free thiol group) generated by modification of its counterpart cysteine residue provided in Figure 6A , characteristics such as high %SASA may be preferred ( Figure 6B , fifth column).
  • the selection criteria of Group (A) are more preferable than those of Group (B) which in turn are more preferable than those of Group (C) and in turn are more preferable than those of Group (D).
  • the method may or may not further comprise determining the receptor binding capacity and/or the conjugation competence of the polypeptide and optionally selecting a polypeptide which does or does not have a receptor binding capacity and/or conjugation competence.
  • a polypeptide may or may not include expressing the polypeptide in a host cell and/or purifying the polypeptide from the host or host cell media.
  • the method may comprise favouring selection of residues meeting one or all of the following criteria:
  • selection criteria as detailed throughout this specification may or may not be used to select residues in the method of the first aspect of the invention.
  • a second aspect of the invention provides a thio-albumin comprising a polypeptide sequence and/or polypeptide designed and/or produced according to the first aspect of the invention. More specifically, the second aspect provides a conjugation competent polypeptide comprising at least 60% identity to SEQ ID No: 1 and a Cys at a position corresponding to position 294 of SEQ ID No: 1.
  • polypeptide is a recombinant polypeptide.
  • polypeptide is an isolated and/or purified polypeptide.
  • polypeptide is synthetic and/or does not naturally occur in nature.
  • the polypeptide may comprise:
  • the polypeptide may comprise:
  • the polypeptide may or may not comprise 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 or 20 conjugation competent cysteine residues.
  • polypeptide (which may be described in relation to a known albumin sequence such as SEQ ID No. 1) may or may not further comprise one or more of:
  • a thio-albumin may or may not include a polypeptide where one or more naturally occurring free-thiol group(s), such as cysteine-34 in HSA (SEQ ID No. 1), is modified to an amino acid which is not cysteine.
  • cysteine may or may not be replaced by an amino acid which has a relatively high conservation score (e.g. 1, 2 or 3 as calculated according to Fig. 4 ) such as alanine or serine.
  • a thio-albumin may or may not include a polypeptide where one or more naturally occuring free-thiol group(s), such as cysteine-34 in HSA (SEQ ID No. 1) are present.
  • the invention may be achieved by introducing cysteine residues by one or more of extension, addition, insertion, substitution or deletion.
  • An addition may be made by extension and/or insertion.
  • one or more conjugation competent cysteines may or may not be created in an albumin by extension; e.g. by adding an extra cysteine residue to the N-terminus or C-terminus of the molecule, which may or may not be added as a single cysteine residue, or as a longer polypeptide which contains one or more conjugation competent cysteines.
  • the cysteine residue(s) may be added immediately adjacent the N- or C-terminus of the albumin.
  • cysteine residues When two or more cysteine residues are added, some or all of the added cysteines may be separated from each other by one or more other amino acids, for example by from 1 to 50 amino acids, such as from 1, 10, 20, 30, or 40 amino acids to from 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 amino acids.
  • a preferred N-terminal extension is the addition of Cys immediately adjacent the N-terminal of a mature albumin (i.e. albumin cleaved from its leader sequence).
  • Cys is preferably immediately N-terminal to the first Asp (D1).
  • Such an albumin may be referred to as 'Cys-albumin', e.g.
  • 'Cys-HSA' where HSA is Human Serum Albumin.
  • Other preferred N-terminal extensions of albumins such as SEQ ID No. 1 include Cys-Ala-albumin such as Cys-Ala-HSA.
  • a preferred C-terminal extension is the addition of Cys immediately adjacent the C-terminal of an albumin, such as a mature albumin.
  • Cys is preferably immediately C-terminal to the last Leu (L585) residue.
  • Such an albumin may be referred to as 'albumin-Cys', e.g. HSA-Cys.
  • Other preferred C-terminal extensions of albumins such as SEQ ID No.
  • albumin-Ala-Cys such as HSA-Ala-Cys.
  • Polypeptides suitable for providing extensions, as described above, may be added or inserted to the C- or, N- side of the C- or N- terminal amino acid of the albumin, such as to the C-side of L585 in SEQ ID No. 1.
  • the polypeptide may or may not further comprise a further linker to which a conjugation partner, such as a bioactive compound, may be linked.
  • a linker may comprise a primary amine such as a lysine.
  • One or more conjugation competent cysteines may or may not be created in an albumin by insertion; for example by adding one or more additional cysteines without removal of an amino acid residue from the albumin sequence, or by substituting one or more adjacent amino acids with a larger number of residues containing at least one cysteine, thus extending the overall length of the polypeptide.
  • a cysteine residue may be introduced immediately adjacent an albumin residue identified herein.
  • the cysteine residue may be introduced as a single cysteine residue or within a polypeptide.
  • the polypeptide may be from 2 to 50 amino acids long, preferably from 2, 10, 20, 30, or 40 to 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 amino acids long.
  • the invention includes substitution of one of the cysteine residues in one or more disulphides bond of an albumin with a different amino acid residue, so breaking the disulphide bond to leave an additional free thiol group.
  • a cysteine of one or more of the 17 naturally occurring disulphide bonds of HSA may be substituted to provide a conjugation-competent cysteine. Such a substitution causes the cysteine which has not been substituted to no longer have a disulphide binding partner and therefore provide a free thiol group.
  • Conjugation competent cysteines may be provided from one or more of the naturally occurring disulphide bonds of an albumin such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 or 17 of the naturally occurring disulphide bonds of an albumin such as HSA (e.g. SEQ ID No. 1).
  • an albumin such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 or 17 of the naturally occurring disulphide bonds of an albumin such as HSA (e.g. SEQ ID No. 1).
  • one cysteine residue which naturally forms a disulphide bond with another cysteine residue may or may not be substituted with a relatively conserved amino acid residue, particularly Ser, Thr, Val or Ala.
  • cysteine residues involved in disulphide bonding are C53, C62, C75, C91, C90, C101, C124, C169, C168, C177, C200, C246, C245, C253, C265, C279, C278, C289, C316, C361, C360, C369, C392, C438, C437, C448, C461, C477, C476, C487, C514, C559, C558 and C567. Cysteine residues preferred for modification (i.e.
  • deletion or substitution may in particular correspond to C360, C316, C75, C168, C558, C361, C91, C124, C169 and/or C567 thus generating a conjugation competent cysteine at one or more of C369, C361, C91, C177, C567, C316, C75, C169, C124 and C558 of SEQ ID No. 1.
  • conjugation competent cysteines may or may not be created in albumin by deletion of one of the cysteines of a disulphide bond in the protein structure, so breaking the disulphide bond to provide an additional free thiol group.
  • one or more of the cysteine residues present in the albumin molecule, but not involved in disulphide bonding may or may not be deleted (i.e. without substitution with a different amino acid) or may or may not be substituted with a different amino acid, particularly Ser, Thr, Val or Ala.
  • the conjugation competent cysteine residues when the polypeptide is folded, may or may not be relatively evenly distributed over the surface of the folded protein.
  • the term 'folded' includes folding of a polypeptide/protein into its natural configuration, for example the most thermodynamically stable folded configuration.
  • the two or more conjugation competent cysteines are distributed over the surface of the thio-albumin molecule such that they are spaced as far from each other as possible, for example geometrically possible.
  • the distance between two or more conjugation competent cysteines is at least 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, or 80 Angstroms.
  • each conjugation competent cysteine is at least 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, or 80 Angstroms distant from all other conjugation competent cysteines in the molecule.
  • the distance between two conjugation competent cysteines is preferably a distance which is at least 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, or 95 % and most preferably 100% of the length of the longest axis of the folded albumin molecule, for example as shown in a model of an albumin.
  • the longest axis of SEQ ID No. 1 as shown in protein structure 1AO6 is approximately 85 Angstroms. Therefore, it is preferred that the two or more of the cysteine residues are at least 65, 70, 75 or most preferably 80 Angstroms apart.
  • Most preferably each conjugation competent cysteine residue is at a distance of at least 80, 90, or 95 % and most preferably 100% of the length of the longest axis of the folded albumin molecule.
  • the side chains of conjugation competent cysteines are directed away from each other and/or directed so that a moiety conjugated to the cysteine will be directed away from the centre of the albumin structure. This provides the advantage of preventing interactions between the conjugated moieties and/or the albumin moiety itself.
  • candidate amino acid residues may be visually inspected using software such as PyMOL (Warren L. DeLano "The PyMOL Molecular Graphics System” DeLano Scientific LLC, San Carlos, CA, USA. http://www.pymol.org).
  • Candidate amino acids may be divided into categories based on their proximity to other members of that group. For example, candidate amino acids may be divided into 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 categories. It is preferred that combinations of candidate amino acids are selected from different categories. That is, it is preferred that a thio-albumin contains one or fewer mutations from each category.
  • Selection Groups 1 and 2 correspond to the selection criteria (A) and (B) (respectively) from Figs 5A and 5B of the selection method described herein.
  • Selection Group 3 corresponds to the residues identified in Fig. 6B .
  • Particularly favoured residues are given in Figure 6A and 6B in which the column headings are the same as those in Fig. 1 with the addition of 'Selection Group' and 'Proximity Group' as described herein.
  • Proximity Group allocation of a proximity group as described herein to descrive subsets of sites within HSA (specifically SEQ ID No. 1).
  • candidate amino acid residues selected in Selection Group 1 were visually inspected using the PyMOL software, and the amino acids selected were divided into categories based on their proximity to other members of Selection Group 1.
  • Five groups were generated (labeled A to E in Figure 10 'proximity group', right hand column), four were generated by visual inspection.
  • Group E contains amino acid residues not visible in 1AO6 which are known to be in the N-terminal region.
  • cys-34 is present in the proximity group A.
  • the preferred free cysteine residues selected in Selection Group 3 (listed in Figure 6B ), which can be generated by mutations causing disruption of disulphide bonds were visually inspected using the PyMOL software, and the amino acids selected were divided into categories based on their proximity to other members of that group. Four groups were generated (labeled K-N in Figure 10 'proximity group', right hand column). When referring to the residues of selection group 3, the cited residues are the resultant conjugation competent cysteines (e.g. Fig. 6B ). In order to generate such a conjugation competent cysteine it is clear that the counterpart cysteine (e.g. Fig. 6A ) in the disulphide bond should be removed for example by deletion or substitution.
  • amino acid residues which occur in different 'proximity' groups may be preferred over those that occur within the same proximity group.
  • SEQ ID No. 1 there are 14 proximity groups (i.e. A to N). It is preferred that, for a thio-albumin having two or more conjugation competent cysteines, there is zero or one conjugation competent cysteine defined from each of the 14 groups. That is, it is preferred that such a thio-albumin does not contain two or more conjugation competent cysteines falling within the same group. A large number of permutations exist which meet this criterion.
  • T79 + A364 in which one residue is selected from proximity group A to combine with A364 in proximity group C, would be preferred over T79 + E86 which both occur in proximity group A.
  • proximity groups A, F or K For combinations including cysteine-34, it is preferred not to select residues from proximity groups A, F or K. That is, it is preferred to select residues from one or more of proximity groups B to E, G to J and L to N.
  • Examples of preferred mutations selected from within Selection Group 1 may include the following:
  • Examples of preferred mutations selected from within Selection Group 2 may include the following:
  • Examples of preferred site selected from within Selection Group 3 for the conjugation competent free-thiols may include the following:
  • Combinations of sites from Selection Groups 1, 2 and 3 can also be made, where sites from Selection Group 1 are typically preferred to sites from Selection Group 2, which are typically preferred to sites selected from Selection Group 3.
  • Examples of sites from Selection Groups 1 + 2 may include residues from proximity groups C + I, such as A364 + A581.
  • residues from proximity groups A + G + I such as C34 + S270 + A581
  • residues from proximity groups A + H + G + I such as C34 + D129 + S270 + A581
  • residues from proximity groups C + I + H such as A364 + A581 +D129 are also preferred.
  • Examples of sites from Selection Groups 1 + 3 may include residues from proximity groups A + L + M, such as C34 + C169 + C316, from proximity groups C + L, such as A364 + C177 are preferred.
  • residues from proximity groups B + M, such as D562 + C369 are preferred.
  • Examples of sites from Selection Groups 2 + 3 may include residues from proximity groups H + M, such as D129 + C369 are preferred. Alternatively, residues from proximity groups I + M, such as A581 + C369 are preferred.
  • Examples of sites from Selection Groups 1 + 2 + 3 may include residues from proximity groups A + H + M + D, such as C34 + D129 + C360 + L585, from proximity groups B + H + M, such as D562 + D129 + C369 are preferred.
  • the above albumin variants of the invention may or may not further comprise a cysteine at Cys34 of SEQ ID No. 1, or at an equivalent potisionm, if based on an albumin other than SEQ ID No. 1.
  • a preferred thio-albumin comprises SEQ ID No. 1 with Cys at positions 2 and 585 in addition to the naturally occuring Cys at position 34 (SEQ ID No. 78, contrsuct 'TA33').
  • a more preferred thio-albumin comprises SEQ ID No. 1 with Cys at positions 2, 364, 562, 585 in addition to the naturally occuring Cys at position 34 (SEQ ID No. 82, constryct ⁇ TA38').
  • Thio-albumins comprising three or four of the Cys at positions 2, 364, 562 and 585 may also be preferred.
  • the polypeptide may or may not comprise at least one mutation that reduces glycosylation.
  • a third aspect of the invention provides a polynucleotide which encodes the polypeptide according to the invention.
  • the polynucleotide may or may not be codon-optimised relative to the host from which it is to be expressed.
  • SEQ ID No. 2 provides the usual coding sequence of HSA (SEQ ID No. 1).
  • SEQ ID No. 3 provides a coding sequence of HSA (SEQ ID No. 1) which is codon-optimised for expression from S. cerevisiae.
  • SEQ ID No. 2 or 3 may be mutated in order to provide a polynucleotide which encodes a polypeptide according to the invention.
  • the polynucleotide is synthetic and/or recombinant.
  • the polynucleotide is an isolated polynucleotide.
  • the polynucleotide may encode an HSA with or without a leader sequence.
  • the polynucleotide may encode an HSA with the natural leader sequence of HSA (amino acids 1 to 24 of SEQ ID No. 102) or an HSA with a fusion leader sequence (amino acids 1 to 24 of SEQ ID No. 49).
  • a fourth aspect of the invention provides a plasmid comprising the polynucleotide of the third aspect of the invention.
  • the plasmid may be a 2 micron based plasmid such as those described in WO2005/061719 , WO2005/061718 and WO2006/067511 (all incorporated herein by reference).
  • the plasmid may exhibit enhanced chaperone activity, for example through over expression of a chaperone, particularly PDI.
  • a fifth aspect of the invention provides an expression system such as a host cell comprising a polynucleotide according to the third aspect of the invention and/or a plasmid of the fourth aspect of the invention.
  • the host cell is a mammalian cell such as a human or bovine cell, or a fungal cell such as a yeast cell.
  • the host cell may be a bacterial cell such as a Bacillus or Escherichia coli or a viral cell such as Baculovirus or a plant cell such as a rice e.g. Oryza sativa.
  • the cell is a yeast cell such as a Saccharomyces ( e.g. S. cerevisiae ), a Pichia or an Aspergillus cell.
  • a sixth aspect of the invention provides a conjugate which comprises a conjugation partner, such as a bioactive compound, and a polypeptide according to the invention, wherein the conjugation partner is linked to the polypeptide through a conjugation competent cysteine residue of the polypeptide.
  • the conjugation partner may be a therapeutic, diagnostic or imaging compound such as those mentioned herein.
  • the conjugate may comprise 2 or more, for example 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9 or 10, conjugation partners which may each be different and/or may be multiple copies of the same compound.
  • each conjugation partner is linked to the polypeptide through a conjugation competent cysteine residue of the polypeptide, however conjugation partners may be linked by other means for example by a genetic fusion or covalent bonds to non-cysteine amino acids such as lysine.
  • a seventh aspect of the invention provides a method of producing a polypeptide of the invention comprising:
  • the present invention also provides a method for producing a polypeptide (or protein) of the invention, the method comprising: (a) providing a host cell of the invention comprising a polynucleotide encoding protein product of choice as defined above; and (b) growing the host cell (for example, culturing the host cell in a culture medium); thereby to produce a cell culture or recombinant organism comprising an increased level of the protein product of choice compared to the level of production of the protein product of choice achieved by growing (for example, culturing), under the same conditions, the same host cell that has not been genetically modified to cause over-expression of one or more helper proteins.
  • the step of growing the host cell may or may not involve allowing a host cell derived from a multicellular organism to be regrown into a multicellular recombinant organism (such as a plant or animal) and, optionally, producing one or more generations of progeny therefrom.
  • the method may or may not further comprise the step of purifying the thus expressed protein product of choice from the cultured host cell, recombinant organism or culture medium.
  • the production method may comprise linking a conjugation partner to the polypeptide of the invention through a conjugation competent cysteine residue of the polypeptide. Suitable conjugation methods and conjugation partners are described herein.
  • An eighth aspect of the invention provides a composition comprising a conjugate according to the invention and at least one pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and/or diluent.
  • a ninth aspect of the invention provides a method for making a pharmaceutical ingredient and/or a pharmaceutical product comprising making a thio-albumin according to the present invention, optionally conjugating a further molecule to the thio-albumin, optionally formulating the resultant conjugate with a pharmaceutically acceptable diluent and/or carrier and optionally preparing the product in unit dosage form.
  • a tenth aspect of the invention provides use of a polypeptide according to the invention for the production of a thio-albumin-conjugate.
  • An eleventh aspect of the invention provides a conjugation competent polypeptide or a conjugate according to the invention and/or produced by a method according to the invention for use in a treatment of disease, treatment of illness and/or for diagnosis.
  • the polypeptides and/or conjugates of the invention may be used to prepare nanoparticles which may be used, for example, in angiogenic applications, anti-angiogenic applications and to coat a medical device such as a stent.
  • Nanoparticles are effective at targeting, for example to non tight junctions, and therefore can be useful for targeting tumours such as cancerous tumours.
  • Nanoparticles can also be useful to target antigen in order to provoke an immune response since nanoparticles are particularly susceptible to engulfment and presentation by phagocytes.
  • the invention provides nanoparticles consisting only of thio-albumin according to the invention which may or may not be conjugated to a moiety (conjugation partner).
  • the invention also provides nanoparticles comprising thio-albumin according to the invention, which may or may not be conjugated to a moiety, and one or more other constituents of a nanoparticle which may or may not be albumin related.
  • a thio-albumin according to the invention comprises at least two conjugation competent cysteine residues located on the surface of the polypeptide.
  • Such a thio-albumin may be used for the preparation of nanoparticles in which one or more conjugation competent cysteine residues may be used in the formation of a nanoparticle and one or more conjugation competent residue is used for conjugation to a conjugation partner, for example to a bioactive molecule.
  • the invention relates to all albumins. Whilst preferred residues have been identified in relation to SEQ ID No. 1, the skilled person would be able to identify equivalent residues in other albumin sequences, such as the albumins disclosed in Figures 2 and 3 , and understand that mutations of albumins (other than SEQ ID No. 1) at such equivalent residues are part of the invention. Equivalent residues can be identified by, for example, homology alignment with SEQ ID No. 1. A residue in an albumin other than SEQ ID No. 1 may or may not have an identical residue coordinate to its equivalent residue in SEQ ID No. 1. Thus the invention provides thio-albumins based on any albumin sequence, such as the sequences shown in Table 1 and, more preferably, those shown in Fig. 2 and/or 3. 'Based on' includes modification of an albumin sequence to introduce one or more additional free-thiols.
  • Recombinant albumins can offer advantages over animal-derived albumins by having a higher level of conjugation-competent free thiol groups, and can be manufactured without the risk of contamination with pathogenic prions and viruses.
  • An advantage of a thio-albumin conjugate is that the thio-albumin part may be prepared separately to a conjugation partner. Therefore, one batch of thio-albumin may be used to produce many different thio-albumin conjugates.
  • the individual components of the conjugate can be manufactured by different methods and therefore are not restricted to a single method, such as heterologous protein expression in a host cell such as a yeast.
  • a thio-albumin may comprise multiple conjugation sites and therefore a single thio-albumin may be conjugated to more than one type of conjugation partner (e . g . therapeutic agent, diagnostic agent, targeting agent, imaging agent) and/or to multiple copies of one or more types of conjugation partner.
  • conjugation partner e . g . therapeutic agent, diagnostic agent, targeting agent, imaging agent
  • the ability to conjugate the thio-albumin to different types of conjugation partners allows the provision of a multi-functional species.
  • the ability to conjugate the thio-albumin to multiple copies of a conjugation partner allows the concentration of molecule to be increased and therefore increase the amount, or volume, of thio-albumin conjugate required for a given purpose relative to a conjugate having only a single copy of the conjugation partner.
  • albumins relate to all albumins and their structures. Structures of albumin are available to the skilled person, for example the atomic coordinates for the tertiary structure of human albumin are available at the GenBank DNA database at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
  • the albumin used in the invention may be a naturally occurring albumin, an albumin-related protein or a variant thereof such as a natural or engineered variant. Variants include polymorphisms, fragments such as domains and sub-domains, fragments and/or fusion proteins.
  • An albumin, of this invention may comprise the sequence of an albumin protein obtained from any source. Typically the source is mammalian such as human or bovine.
  • the serum albumin is human serum albumin ("HSA").
  • HSA human serum albumin
  • the term "human serum albumin” includes a serum albumin having an amino acid sequence naturally occurring in humans, and variants thereof.
  • the albumin has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No. 1 or a variant or fragment thereof, preferably a functional variant or fragment thereof.
  • the HSA coding sequence is obtainable by known methods for isolating cDNA corresponding to human genes, and is also disclosed in, for example, EP 0 073 646 and EP 0 286 424 .
  • a fragment or variant may or may not be functional.
  • a fragment or variant may retain the ability to bind to an albumin receptor such as FcRn to at least 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 or 100 % of the ability of the parent albumin (from which the fragment or variant derives) to bind to the receptor.
  • Relative binding ability may be determined by methods known in the art such as surface plasmon resonance studies.
  • the albumin may be a naturally-occurring polymorphic variant of human albumin or of a human albumin analogue. Generally, variants or fragments of human albumin will have at least 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, (preferably at least 80%, 90%, 95%, 100%, 105% or more) of human albumin's ligand binding activity (for example FcRN-binding), mole for mole.
  • human albumin's ligand binding activity for example FcRN-binding
  • the “albumin” may comprise the sequence of bovine serum albumin.
  • bovine serum albumin includes a serum albumin having an amino acid sequence naturally occurring in cows, for example as taken from Swissprot accession number P02769, and variants thereof as defined herein.
  • bovine serum albumin also includes fragments of full-length bovine serum albumin or variants thereof, as defined herein.
  • the albumin may comprise the sequence of an albumin derived from one of serum albumin from dog (e.g. see Swissprot accession number P49822-1), pig (e.g. see Swissprot accession number P08835-1), goat (e.g. as available from Sigma as product no. A2514 or A4164), ), cat (e.g. see Swissprot accession number P49064-1), chicken (e.g. see Swissprot accession number P19121-1), ovalbumin ( e . g . chicken ovalbumin) ( e.g. see Swissprot accession number P01012-1), turkey ovalbumin ( e.g. see Swissprot accession number 073860-1), donkey ( e.g.
  • Swissprot accession number P49065-1 rat ( e.g. see Swissprot accession number P02770-1) and sheep ( e.g. see Swissprot accession number P14639-1) and includes variants and fragments thereof as defined herein.
  • the albumin may comprise the sequence of an albumin such as a serum albumin or an ovalbumin, for example those shown in Table 1, below, and includes variants and fragments thereof as defined herein.
  • Table 1 Albumins from various species Protein Common Name Species SwissProt Accession No Identity to SEQ ID NO: 1 (Clustal V) Length (aa) SA African clawed frog Xenopus laevis P08759-1 37.3 608 SA Bovine Bos taurus (SEQ ID No. 94) P02769-1 76.1 607 SA Cat Felis catus (SEQ ID No.
  • albumin Many naturally occurring mutant forms of albumin are known. Many are described in Peters, (1996, All About Albumin: Biochemistry, Genetics and Medical Applications, Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, California, p.170-181 ). A variant as defined herein may be one of these naturally occurring mutants such as those described in Minchiotti et al. (2008). Hum Mutat 29(8): 1007-16., and http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/P02768 ,.
  • a “variant albumin” refers to an albumin protein wherein at one or more positions there have been amino acid insertions, deletions, or substitutions, either conservative or non-conservative, provided that such changes result in an albumin protein for which at least one basic property, for example binding activity (type of and specific activity e.g.
  • a fatty acid such as a long-chain fatty acids, for exampleoleic (C18:1), palmitic (C16:0), linoleic (C18:2), stearic (C18:0), arachidonic (C20:4) and/or palmitoleic (C16:1)), osmolarity (oncotic pressure, colloid osmotic pressure), behaviour in a certain pH-range (pH-stability) has not significantly been changed.
  • “Significantly” in this context means that one skilled in the art would say that the properties of the variant may still be different but would not be unobvious over the ones of the original protein, e.g. the protein from which the variant is derived. Such characteristics may be used as additional selection criteria in the invention.
  • an albumin variant will have at least 60%, preferably at least 70%, more preferably at least 80%, yet more preferably at least 90%, even more preferably at least 95%, most preferably at least 98% or more sequence identity with a naturally occurring albumin such as SEQ ID No. 1.
  • the percent sequence identity between two polypeptides may be determined using suitable computer programs, for example the GAP program of the University of Wisconsin Genetic Computing Group and it will be appreciated that percent identity is calculated in relation to polypeptides whose sequence has been aligned optimally.
  • the alignment may alternatively be carried out using the Clustal W program or the Clustal V program and therefore allow calculation of % homology between sequences of a multiple alignment and/or caluclation of % identity between sequences of a pairwise alignment.
  • the parameters used may be as follows:
  • conservative amino acid substitutions refers to substitutions made within the same group, and which typically do not substantially affect protein function.
  • conservative substitutions is intended combinations such as Gly, Ala; Val, Ile, Leu; Asp, Glu; Asn, Gln; Ser, Thr; Lys, Arg; and Phe, Tyr.
  • Such variants may be made by techniques well known in the art, such as by site-directed mutagenesis as disclosed in US Patent No 4,302,386 issued 24 November 1981 to Stevens, incorporated herein by reference.
  • the Venn diagram of Figure 4 may be used to determine conservative amino acid substitutions: Using Fig. 4 ., a conservation mutation score (ranging from 0 to 5) may be calculated. A score of 0 is the highest conservation, which, for cysteine, is only assigned for substitution of a cysteine residue with another cysteine residue. For changes from any other amino acid to a cysteine, the score may be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. A score of 1 is a more conservative substitution that a score of 2, 3, 4 or 5. A score of 5 is assigned to the lowest conservation between a substituted amino acid and the cysteine. The score of 0 to 5 is calculated from Fig. 4 as the number of boundaries (i.e. lines) crossed to go from cysteine to the appropriate amino acid. Thus the score for cysteine is 0 as no boundaries are crossed. Likewise, the score of aspartic acid (D) is 3, since 3 boundaries are crossed.
  • these scores are provided for each of the amino acid residues in the column labelled 'Conserved Mutation to Cysteine'.
  • aspartic acid methionine, proline, glutamine, valine, tryptophan, tyrosine, glycine, asparagine, alanine, serine and threonine are preferred since they are relatively conserved with cysteine. More preferred are those amino acids with a score of 2 or less i.e. glycine, asparagine, alanine, serine, threonine. Most preferred are those with a score of 1, i.e. alanine, serine, threonine.
  • residues with a score of 4 or more i.e. glutamic acid, phenylalanine, isoleucine, lysine, leucine, histidine and arginine are less preferred and may not be preferred at all.
  • “conservative" amino acid substitutions refers to substitutions made within the same group such as within the group of basic amino acids (such as arginine, lysine, histidine), acidic amino acids (such as glutamic acid and aspartic acid), polar amino acids (such as glutamine and asparagine), hydrophobic amino acids (such as leucine, isoleucine, valine), aromatic amino acids (such as phenylalanine, tryptophan, tyrosine) and small amino acids (such as glycine, alanine, serine, threonine, methionine).
  • basic amino acids such as arginine, lysine, histidine
  • acidic amino acids such as glutamic acid and aspartic acid
  • polar amino acids such as glutamine and asparagine
  • hydrophobic amino acids such as leucine, isoleucine, valine
  • aromatic amino acids such as phenylalanine, tryptophan, tyrosine
  • a conservative substitution of alanine-2 in SEQ ID No 1 can include glycine or serine.
  • Non-conservative substitutions encompass substitutions of amino acids in one group by amino acids in another group.
  • a non-conservative substitution could include the substitution of a polar amino acid for a hydrophobic amino acid.
  • fragment includes any fragment of full-length albumin or a variant thereof, so long as at least one basic property, for example binding activity (type of and specific activity e.g. binding to bilirubin), osmolarity (oncotic pressure, colloid osmotic pressure), behaviour in a certain pH-range (pH-stability) has not significantly been changed. "Significantly” in this context means that one skilled in the art would say that the properties of the variant may still be different but would not be unobvious over the ones of the original protein.
  • a fragment will typically be at least 50 amino acids long.
  • a fragment may comprise at least one whole sub-domain of albumin.
  • HSA Domains of HSA have been expressed as recombinant proteins ( Dockal et al., 1999, J. Biol. Chem., 274, 29303-29310 ), where domain I was defined as consisting of amino acids 1-197, domain II was defined as consisting of amino acids 189-385 and domain III was defined as consisting of amino acids 381-585. Partial overlap of the domains occurs because of the extended ⁇ -helix structure (h10-h1) which exists between domains I and II, and between domains II and III (Peters, 1996, op. cit., Table 2-4). HSA also comprises six sub-domains (sub-domains IA, IB, IIA, IIB, IIIA and IIIB).
  • Sub-domain IA comprises amino acids 6-105
  • sub-domain IB comprises amino acids 120-177
  • sub-domain IIA comprises amino acids 200-291
  • sub-domain IIB comprises amino acids 316-369
  • sub-domain IIIA comprises amino acids 392-491
  • sub-domain IIIB comprises amino acids 512-583.
  • a fragment may comprise a whole or part of one or more domains or sub-domains as defined above, or any combination of those domains and/or sub-domains.
  • a fragment may comprise or consist of at least 50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 96, 97, 98, or 99 % of an albumin or of a domain of an albumin.
  • single or multiple heterologous fusions comprising any of the above; or single or multiple heterologous fusions to albumin, or a variant or fragment of any of these may be used.
  • Such fusions include albumin N-terminal fusions, albumin C-terminal fusions and co-N-terminal and C-terminal albumin fusions as exemplified by WO 01/79271 .
  • Figures 2 and 3 show alignments of various albumin family proteins with HSA (SEQ ID NO: 1), identified as 'P02768'.
  • the protein sequences include the albumin leader sequence. These alignments can be used to identify conserved regions and amino acid residues corresponding to those in HSA selected as described above. One or both alignments can also be used to assign a homology score to an amino acid residue in an albumin sequence.
  • the Clustal V method may be used (above).
  • the alignment of two amino acid sequences may also be determined by using the Needle program from the EMBOSS package (http://emboss.org) version 2.8.0.
  • the Needle program implements the global alignment algorithm described in Needleman and Wunsch (1970) "A general method applicable to the search for similarities in the amino acid sequence of two proteins.” J. Mol. Biol. 48, 443-453 .
  • the substitution matrix used is BLOSUM62, gap opening penalty is 10, and gap extension penalty is 0.5.
  • Fig. 2 shows an alignment of sixteen mammalian albumin family proteins including HSA (SEQ ID NO: 1, identified in the alignment as P02768) compiled using MegAlign program (version 8.0.2) based on Clustal W.
  • the protein sequences include the albumin leader sequence. Each sequence is labelled with the animal from which it derives and its database accession number.
  • Fig. 3 shows alignments of thirty three albumin family (both mammalian and non-mammalian) proteins including HSA (SEQ ID NO: 1, identified in the alignment as P02768) compiled using MegAlign program (version 8.0.2) based on Clustal V.
  • the protein sequences include the albumin leader sequence.
  • Homology may be determined with reference to Fig 2 and/or Fig 3 .
  • the degree of identity between a given amino acid sequence and SEQ ID NO: 1 may be calculated as the number of exact matches in an alignment of the two sequences, divided by the length of the shorter of the two sequences. The result may be expressed in percent identity.
  • An exact match occurs when the two sequences have identical amino acid residues in the same positions of the overlap.
  • the length of a sequence is the number of amino acid residues in the sequence.
  • FIG. 1 column labelled 'Align 1 (Mamm. W ('mammalian, Clustal W)) provides the homology level for each position of SEQ ID No. 1 as calculated by the alignment of mammalian albumins given in Fig. 2 .
  • the homology level score may be calculated.
  • a score of 100 is the highest conservation and indicates there are no changes at that residue when the sequence from human serum albumin is compared with other mammalian albumin sequence, whereas a score of 0 indicates the lowest level of conservation between the aligned sequences.
  • preferred residues include those which are not highly conserved (for example those with a score of less than 40, more preferably less than 20 and most preferably 0) are preferred and those with a higher level of homology (for example those with a score of more than 40, more than 60, more than 80 and most preferably 100) are less preferred.
  • Residues with a score of 0 or 1 are preferred. Residues with a score of 0 are most preferred.
  • amino acid residues with a score of 2 are preferably deselected using the method of the invention since these amino acid residues were assumed to occur in a region of high homology which would be unlikely to accept a mutation to an alternative amino acid.
  • phenylalanine-11 is adjacent to one 100% conserved residue, in a region of conserved residues, and is less preferred to a residue, such as alanine-2 (A2), which has no adjacent 100% conserved residues.
  • mouse albumin contains 36 cysteine residues, all the cysteines involved in disulphide bonding (by homology to HSA) are present, as is cysteine-34, however a cysteine residue is present at 579 on mature mouse protein but not other mammalian albumin sequences therefore thio-albumin mutein S579C may be preferred as its lack of homology with other mammalian albumins suggests that it may not be particularly important to the structure and/or function of this albumin.
  • gerbil albumin has an additional alanine residue between alanine-2 (A2) and histidine-3 (H3), indicating that insertion of a cysteine residues after residue 2 (e.g. A2 of SEQ ID No. 1) and before residue 3 (e.g. H3 of SEQ ID No. 1) is preferred.
  • guinea pig albumin has a serine residue at cysteine-34 (C34).
  • C34S cysteine-34
  • Most mammalian albumin sequences (with the exception of human serum albumin) have a sequence which is less than or equal to 584 amino acids in length (less than or equal to 608 amino acids including leader sequence).
  • the additional amino acid residue present on human serum albumin appears to be at the C-terminus without any cognate alignment amino acid residues in the other mammalian serum albumin sequences.
  • a thio-albumin variant containing G584C and a deletion of L585 may be preferred.
  • albumin sequences (Bovine, Donkey, Goat, Horse, Sheep, Pig)are 583 amino acids in length (607 amino acids including leader sequence). Using the alignment in Fig. 2 , it can be seen that these species albumin sequences do not have a residue corresponding R117 (R141 including leader sequence) therefore a thio-albumin containing V116C and a deletion of R117 or a thio-albumin containing a deletion of R117 and P118C may be preferred. In such a thio-albumin the length of the amino acid sequence would be reduced relative to SEQ ID No. 1.
  • the albumin variant may have at least 60 % identity with SEQ ID NO: 1, particularly at least 65%, 70%, 75 %, at least 80 %, at least 85 %, at least 90 %, at least 95 %, at least 97 %, at least 98 % or at least 99 % identity.
  • the thio-albumin may optionally be fused to one or more conjugation partners for example through a genetic or chemical fusion.
  • the fusion may be at the N- or C-terminus or comprise an insertion.
  • the open reading frame of any other gene or variant, or part or either can be utilised as an open reading frame for use with the present invention.
  • the open reading frame may encode a protein comprising any sequence, be it a natural protein (including a zymogen), or a variant, or a fragment (which may, for example, be a domain) of a natural protein; or a totally synthetic protein; or a single or multiple fusion of different proteins (natural or synthetic).
  • Such proteins can be taken, but not exclusively, from the lists provided in WO 01/79258 , WO 01/79271 , WO 01/79442 , WO 01/79443 , WO 01/79444 and WO 01/79480 , or a variant or fragment thereof; the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
  • these patent applications present the list of proteins in the context of fusion partners for albumin, the present invention is not so limited and, for the purposes of the present invention, any of the proteins listed therein may be presented alone or as fusion partners for albumin or any other protein or fragment or variant of any of the above, as a desired polypeptide. Examples of chemical fusions (also known as conjugations) of albumin are given in Leger et al. (2004) Bioorg Med Chem Lett 14(17): 4395-8 ; and Thibaudeau et al. (2005). Bioconjug Chem 16(4): 1000-8 .
  • An advantage of using a genetically or chemically fused albumin is that either or all of the molecules which contribute to the fusion may have improved properties relative to the unfused molecule(s) ( Balan et al. (2006) Antivir Ther 11(1): 35-45 ).
  • Albumins and albumin particles are also important for carrying and delivering drugs and prodrugs to their sites of action ( Kratz, F. (2008) Journal of Controlled Release, 132 (3), p.171-183 ). Fusion and particle technologies offer improved dosing regimes due to improved pharmacokinetic properties, such as half-life extension, and may improve bioavailability and protect the fused conjugation partner, for example bioactive molecule, from inactivation.
  • the polypeptide may display modified (e.g.
  • N-linked glycosylation such as, but not limited to reduced N-linked glycosylation or reduced O-linked glycosylation.
  • the N-linked glycosylation pattern of an albumin molecule can be modified by adding/removing amino acid glycosylation consensus sequences such as N-X-S/T, at any or all of the N, X, or S/T position.
  • Albumin polymorphisms exist with N-linked glycosylation.
  • Albumin mutants may have recycling time such that the efficacy of a mutant as a bioactive carrier is improved.
  • Recombinantly expressed proteins can be subject to undesirable post-translational modifications by the producing host cell.
  • rHA recombinant human albumin
  • yeast species can be modified by O-linked glycosylation, generally involving mannose.
  • the mannosylated albumin is able to bind to the lectin Concanavalin A.
  • the amount of mannosylated albumin produced by the yeast can be reduced by using a yeast strain deficient in one or more of the PMT genes ( WO 94/04687 ). The most convenient way of achieving this is to create a yeast which has a defect in its genome such that a reduced level of one of the Pmt proteins is produced.
  • the yeast could be transformed to produce an anti-Pmt agent, such as an anti-Pmt antibody.
  • disruption of one or more of the genes equivalent to the PMT genes of S. cerevisiae is also beneficial, e.g. in Pichia pastoris or Kluyveromyces lactis.
  • the sequence of PMT1 (or any other PMT gene) isolated from S. cerevisiae may be used for the identification or disruption of genes encoding similar enzymatic activities in other fungal species.
  • the cloning of the PMT1 homologue of Kluyveromyces lactis is described in WO 94/04687 .
  • the step of "purifying the thus expressed heterologous protein from the cultured host cell or the culture medium” optionally comprises cell immobilization, cell separation and/or cell breakage, but always comprises at least one other purification step different from the step or steps of cell immobilization, separation and/or breakage.
  • Cell immobilization techniques such as encasing the cells using calcium alginate beads, are well known in the art.
  • cell separation techniques such as centrifugation, filtration (e.g. cross-flow filtration, expanded bed chromatography and the like are well known in the art.
  • methods of cell breakage including beadmilling, sonication, enzymatic exposure and the like are well known in the art.
  • the at least one other purification step may be any other step suitable for protein purification known in the art.
  • purification techniques for the recovery of recombinantly expressed albumin have been disclosed in: WO 92/04367 , removal of matrix-derived dye; EP 464 590 , removal of yeast-derived colorants; EP 319 067 , alkaline precipitation and subsequent application of the albumin to a lipophilic phase; and WO 96/37515 , US 5 728 553 and WO 00/44772 , which describe complete purification processes; all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
  • thio-albumin or fusions of thio-albumin and another protein or proteins can be prepared by methods know to the art ( Sanker, (2004), Genetic Eng. News, 24, 22-28 , Schmidt, (2004), Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 65, 363-372 ) including but not limited to expression in mammalian cell culture ( Mason et al., (2004), Protein Expr.
  • filamentous fungi including but not restricted to Aspergillus spp ( EP 238023 , US 5,364,770 , US 5,578,463 , EP184438 , EP284603 , WO 2000/056900 , WO9614413 ), Trichoderma spp and Fusarium spp ( Navalainen et al., (2005), Trends in Biotechnology, 23, 468-473 ).
  • the host cell may be any type of cell.
  • the host cell may or may not be an animal (such as mammalian, avian, insect, etc.), plant (such as Oryza sativa), fungal or bacterial cell.
  • Bacterial and fungal, such as yeast, host cells may or may not be preferred.
  • Typical prokaryotic vector plasmids are: pUC18, pUC19, pBR322 and pBR329 available from Biorad Laboratories (Richmond, CA, USA); p Trc 99A, pKK223-3, pKK233-3, pDR540 and pRIT5 available from Pharmacia (Piscataway, NJ, USA); pBS vectors, Phagescript vectors, Bluescript vectors, pNH8A, pNH16A, pNH18A, pNH46A available from Stratagene Cloning Systems (La Jolla, CA 92037, USA).
  • a typical mammalian cell vector plasmid is pSVL available from Pharmacia (Piscataway, NJ, USA). This vector uses the SV40 late promoter to drive expression of cloned genes, the highest level of expression being found in T antigen-producing cells, such as COS-1 cells.
  • An example of an inducible mammalian expression vector is pMSG, also available from Pharmacia (Piscataway, NJ, USA). This vector uses the glucocorticoid-inducible promoter of the mouse mammary tumour virus long terminal repeat to drive expression of the cloned gene.
  • Methods well known to those skilled in the art can be used to construct expression vectors containing the coding sequence and, for example appropriate transcriptional or translational controls.
  • One such method involves ligation via cohesive ends.
  • Compatible cohesive ends can be generated on the DNA fragment and vector by the action of suitable restriction enzymes. These ends will rapidly anneal through complementary base pairing and remaining nicks can be closed by the action of DNA ligase.
  • a further method uses synthetic double stranded oligonucleotide linkers and adaptors.
  • DNA fragments with blunt ends are generated by bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase or E.coli DNA polymerase I which remove protruding 3' termini and fill in recessed 3' ends.
  • Synthetic linkers and pieces of blunt-ended double-stranded DNA which contain recognition sequences for defined restriction enzymes, can be ligated to blunt-ended DNA fragments by T4 DNA ligase. They are subsequently digested with appropriate restriction enzymes to create cohesive ends and ligated to an expression vector with compatible termini.
  • Adaptors are also chemically synthesised DNA fragments which contain one blunt end used for ligation but which also possess one preformed cohesive end.
  • a DNA fragment or DNA fragments can be ligated together by the action of DNA ligase in the presence or absence of one or more synthetic double stranded oligonucleotides optionally containing cohesive ends.
  • Synthetic linkers containing a variety of restriction endonuclease sites are commercially available from a number of sources including Sigma-Genosys Ltd, London Road, Pampisford, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
  • thio-albumin or fusions of thio-albumin and another protein or proteins may be expressed from a nucleotide sequence, which may or may not contain one or more introns. Additionally the nucleotide sequence may or may not be codon optimised for the host by methods known to the art.
  • the thio-albumin or fusions of thio-albumin and another protein or proteins can be expressed as variants with reduced N-linked glycosylation. Accordingly, in case of human serum albumin (HSA), it may be particularly advantageous to use a yeast deficient in one or more protein mannosyl transferases involved in O-glycosylation of proteins, for instance by disruption of the gene coding sequence. Recombinantly expressed proteins can be subject to undesirable post-translational modifications by the producing host cell. The mannosylated albumin would be able to bind to the lectin Concanavalin A.
  • HSA human serum albumin
  • the amount of mannosylated albumin produced by the yeast can be reduced by using a yeast strain deficient in one or more of the PMT genes ( WO 94/04687 ).
  • the most convenient way of achieving this is to create a yeast which has a defect in its genome such that a reduced level of one of the Pmt proteins is produced. For example, there may or may not be a deletion, insertion or transposition in the coding sequence or the regulatory regions (or in another gene regulating the expression of one of the PMT genes) such that little or no Pmt protein is produced.
  • the yeast could be transformed to produce an anti-Pmt agent, such as an anti-Pmt antibody.
  • the yeast could be cultured in the presence of a compound that inhibits the activity of one of the PMT genes ( Duffy et al, "Inhibition of protein mannosyltransferase 1 (PMT1) activity in the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans", International Conference on Molecular Mechanisms of Fungal Cell Wall Biogenesis, 26-31 August 2001, Monte Verita, Switzerland, Poster Abstract P38 ; the poster abstract may be viewed at http://www.micro.biol.ethz.ch/cellwall/). If a yeast other than S. cerevisiae is used, disruption of one or more of the genes equivalent to the PMT genes of S. cerevisiae is also beneficial, e.g.
  • PMT1 in Pichia pastoris or Kluyveromyces lactis.
  • sequence of PMT1 isolated from S. cerevisiae may be used for the identification or disruption of genes encoding similar enzymatic activities in other fungal species.
  • the cloning of the PMT1 homologue of Kluyveromyces lactis is described in WO 94/04687 .
  • the yeast may or may not also have a deletion of the HSP150 and/or YAP3 genes as taught respectively in WO 95/33833 and WO 95/23857 .
  • the HSA variant may be produced by recombinant expression and secretion.
  • yeast such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae
  • suitable promoters for S. cerevisiae include those associated with the PGK1 gene, GAL1 or GAL10 genes, TEF1, TEF2, PYK1, PMA1, CYC1, PHO5 , TRP1, AOH1, ADH2, the genes for glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, hexokinase, pyruvate decarboxylase, phosphofructokinase, triose phosphate isomerase, phosphoglucose isomerase, glucokinase, ⁇ -mating factor pheromone, ⁇ -mating factor pheromone, the PRB1 promoter, the PRA1 promoter, the GPD1 promoter, and hybrid promoters involving hybrids of parts of 5'
  • Suitable transcription termination signals are well known in the art. Where the host cell is eukaryotic, the transcription termination signal is preferably derived from the 3' flanking sequence of a eukaryotic gene, which contains proper signals for transcription termination and polyadenylation. Suitable 3' flanking sequences may, for example, be those of the gene naturally linked to the expression control sequence used, i.e. may correspond to the promoter. Alternatively, they may be different. In that case, and where the host is a yeast, preferably S . cerevisiae, then the termination signal of the S . cerevisiae ADH1, ADH2, CYC1, or PGK1 genes are preferred.
  • the promoter and open reading frame of the gene encoding the recombinant protein comprising the sequence of an albumin mutant may be flanked by transcription termination sequences so that the transcription termination sequences are located both upstream and downstream of the promoter and open reading frame, in order to prevent transcriptional read-through into any neighbouring genes, such as 2 ⁇ m genes, and vice versa.
  • the favoured regulatory sequences in yeast include: a yeast promoter (e.g. the Saccharomyces cerevisiae PRB1 promoter), as taught in EP 431 880 ; and a transcription terminator, preferably the terminator from Saccharomyces ADH1, as taught in EP 60 057 .
  • yeast promoter e.g. the Saccharomyces cerevisiae PRB1 promoter
  • a transcription terminator preferably the terminator from Saccharomyces ADH1, as taught in EP 60 057 .
  • non-coding region may incorporate more than one DNA sequence encoding a translational stop codon, such as UAA, UAG or UGA, in order to minimise translational read-through and thus avoid the production of elongated, non-natural fusion proteins.
  • a translational stop codon such as UAA, UAG or UGA
  • the recombinant protein comprising the sequence of an albumin mutant is secreted.
  • a sequence encoding a secretion leader sequence may be included in the open reading frame.
  • a polynucleotide according to the present invention may comprise a sequence that encodes a recombinant protein comprising the sequence of an albumin mutant operably linked to a polynucleotide sequence that encodes a secretion leader sequence.
  • Leader sequences are usually, although not necessarily, located at the N-terminus of the primary translation product of an ORF and are generally, although not necessarily, cleaved off the protein during the secretion process, to yield the "mature" protein.
  • the term "operably linked" in the context of leader sequences includes the meaning that the sequence that encodes a recombinant protein comprising the sequence of an albumin mutant is linked, at its 5' end, and in-frame, to the 3' end of a polynucleotide sequence that encodes a secretion leader sequence.
  • the polynucleotide sequence that encodes a secretion leader sequence may be located, in-frame, within the coding sequence of the recombinant protein comprising the sequence of an albumin mutant, or at the 3' end of the coding sequence of the recombinant protein comprising the sequence of an albumin mutant.
  • leader sequences also called secretion pre regions and pre/pro regions
  • Leader sequences direct a nascent protein towards the machinery of the cell that exports proteins from the cell into the surrounding medium or, in some cases, into the periplasmic space.
  • a secretion leader sequence may be used for production of proteins in eukaryotic species such as the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Zygosaccharomyces species, Kluyveromyces lactis and Pichia pastoris.
  • This may comprise a signal (pre) sequence or a prepro leader sequence.
  • Signal sequences are known to be heterogeneous in their amino acid sequence ( Nothwehr and Gordon 1990, Bioessays 12, 479-484 , or Gierasch 1989, Biochemistry 28, p923-930 ). In essence, signal sequences are generally N-terminally located, have a basic n-region, a hydrophobic h-region and a polar c-region.
  • signal sequence As long as this structure is retained the signal sequence will work, irrespective of the amino acid composition. How well they work, i.e. how much mature protein is secreted, depends upon the amino acid sequence. Accordingly, the term "signal peptide" is understood to mean a presequence which is predominantly hydrophobic in nature and present as an N-terminal sequence of the precursor form of an extracellular protein expressed in yeast. The function of the signal peptide is to allow the expressed protein to be secreted to enter the endoplasmic reticulum. The signal peptide is normally cleaved off in the course of this process. The signal peptide may be heterologous or homologous to the yeast organism producing the protein. Known leader sequences include those from the S.
  • Hsp150p heat-shock protein-150
  • MF ⁇ -1 S . cerevisiae mating factor alpha-1 protein
  • HSA human serum albumin
  • WO 90/01063 discloses a fusion of the MF ⁇ -1 and HSA leader sequences (also known as the fusion leader sequence (FL)).
  • the natural albumin leader sequence may or may not be used to direct secretion of the recombinant protein comprising the sequence of an albumin mutant.
  • any suitable plasmid may be used, such as a centromeric plasmid.
  • the examples provide suitable plasmids (centromeric YCplac33-based vectors) for use to transform yeast host cells of the present invention.
  • any other suitable plasmid may be used, such as a yeast-compatible 2 ⁇ m-based plasmid.
  • Plasmids obtained from one yeast type can be maintained in other yeast types ( Irie et al, 1991, Gene, 108(1), 139-144 ; Irie et al, 1991, Mol. Gen. Genet., 225(2), 257-265 ).
  • pSR1 from Zygosaccharomyces rouxii can be maintained in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
  • the plasmid may or may not be a 2 ⁇ m-family plasmid and the host cell will be compatible with the 2 ⁇ m-family plasmid used (see below for a full description of the following plasmids).
  • a suitable yeast cell is Zygosaccharomyces rouxii; where the plasmid is based on pSB1 or pSB2 then a suitable yeast cell is Zygosaccharomyces bailli; where the plasmid is based on pSM1 then a suitable yeast cell is Zygosaccharomyces fermentati; where the plasmid is based on pKD1 then a suitable yeast cell is Kluyveromyces drosophilarum; where the plasmid is based on pPM1 then a suitable yeast cell is Pichia membranaefaciens; where the plasmid is based on the 2 ⁇ m plasmid then a suitable yeast cell is Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Saccharomyces carlsbergensis.
  • the plasmid may be based on the 2 ⁇ m plasmid and the yeast cell may be Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
  • a 2 ⁇ m-family plasmid can be said to be "based on" a naturally occurring plasmid if it comprises one, two or preferably three of the genes FLP, REP1 and REP2 having sequences derived from that naturally occurring plasmid.
  • Useful yeast episomal plasmid vectors are pRS403-406 and pRS413-416 and are generally available from Stratagene Cloning Systems (La Jolla, CA 92037, USA), YEp24 ( Botstein, D., et al. (1979) Gene 8, 17-24 ), and YEplac122, YEplac195 and YEplac181 (Gietz, R.D. and Sugino. A. (1988) Gene 74, 527-534 ).
  • Other yeast plasmids are described in WO 90/01063 and EP 424 117 , as well as the "disintegration vectors of EP-A-286 424 and WO2005061719 .
  • Plasmids pRS403, pRS404, pRS405 and pRS406 are Yeast Integrating plasmids (Ylps) and incorporate the yeast selectable markers HIS3, TRP1, LEU2 and URA3, as are Ylplac204, Ylplac211 and Ylplac128 ( Gietz, R.D. and Sugino. A. (1988) Gene 74, 527-534 ).
  • Plasmids pRS413-416 are Yeast Centromere plasmids (YCps) as are YCplac22, YCplac33 and YCplac111 ( Gietz, R.D. and Sugino. A. (1988) Gene 74, 527-534 ).
  • the host cell type may be selected for compatibility with the plasmid type being used.
  • plasmids are disclosed in WO2005061719 .
  • Preferred helper proteins include PDI1, AHA1, ATP11, CCT2, CCT3, CCT4, CCT5, CCT6, CCT7, CCT8, CNS1, CPR3, CPR6, DER1, DER3, DOA4, ERO1 , EUG1, ERV2, EPS1, FKB2, FMO1 , HCH1, HRD3, HSP10, HSP12, HSP104, HSP26, HSP30, HSP42, HSP60, HSP78, HSP82, KAR2, JEM1, MDJ1, MDJ2, MPD1 , MPD2, PDI1 , PFD1 , ABC1, APJ1, ATP11, ATP12, BTT1, CDC37, CPR7, HSC82, KAR2, LHS1, MGE1, MRS11, NOB1, ECM10, SCJ1, SSA1, SSA2, SSA3, SSA4, SSB1, SSB2, SSC1, SSE2, SIL1, SLS1, ORM1, ORM2, PER1, PTC2, PSE1, UBC7
  • Plasmids as defined herein may be introduced into a host through standard techniques. With regard to transformation of prokaryotic host cells, see, for example, Cohen et al (1972) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 69, 2110 and Sambrook et al (2001) Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, 3rd Ed. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY . Transformation of yeast cells is described in Sherman et al (1986) Methods In Yeast Genetics, A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor, NY . The method of Beggs (1978) Nature 275, 104-109 is also useful. Methods for the transformation of S.
  • Electroporation is also useful for transforming cells and is well known in the art for transforming fungal (including yeast) cell, plant cells, bacterial cells and animal (including vertebrate) cells. Methods for transformation of yeast by electroporation are disclosed in Becker & Guarente (1990) Methods Enzymol. 194, 182 .
  • a plasmid will transform not all of the hosts and it will therefore be necessary to select for transformed host cells.
  • a plasmid may comprise a selectable marker, including but not limited to bacterial selectable marker and/or a yeast selectable marker.
  • a typical bacterial selectable marker is the ⁇ -lactamase gene although many others are known in the art.
  • Typical yeast selectable marker include LEU2, TRP1, HIS3, HIS4, URA3, URA5, SFA 1, ADE2, MET15, L YS5, LYS2, ILV2, FBA 1, PSE1, PDI1 and PGK1.
  • any gene whose chromosomal deletion or inactivation results in an unviable host can be used as a selective marker if a functional gene is provided on the plasmid, as demonstrated for PGK1 in a pgk1 yeast strain ( Piper and Curran, 1990, Curr. Genet. 17, 119 ).
  • Suitable essential genes can be found within the Stanford Genome Database (SGD), (http:://db.yeastgenome.org). Any essential gene product (e.g.
  • auxotrophic (biosynthetic) requirement we include a deficiency which can be complemented by additions or modifications to the growth medium.
  • essential marker genes in the context of the present application are those that, when deleted or inactivated in a host cell, result in a deficiency which cannot be complemented by additions or modifications to the growth medium.
  • a plasmid may comprise more than one selectable marker.
  • Transformed host cells may be cultured for a sufficient time and under appropriate conditions known to those skilled in the art, and in view of the teachings disclosed herein, to permit the expression of the helper protein(s) and the protein product of choice.
  • the culture medium may be non-selective or place a selective pressure on the maintenance of a plasmid.
  • prokaryotic host cells such as E. coli
  • eukaryotic host cells such as mammalian cells
  • Methods for culturing yeast are generally taught in EP 330 451 and EP 361 991 .
  • the thus produced protein product of choice may be present intracellularly or, if secreted, in the culture medium and/or periplasmic space of the host cell.
  • the step of "purifying the thus expressed protein product of choice from the cultured host cell, recombinant organism or culture medium” optionally comprises cell immobilisation, cell separation and/or cell breakage, but always comprises at least one other purification step different from the step or steps of cell immobilisation, separation and/or breakage.
  • Thio-albumin of the invention may be purified from the culture medium by any technique that has been found to be useful for purifying such proteins.
  • cell separation techniques such as centrifugation, filtration (e.g. cross-flow filtration, expanded bed chromatography and the like) are well known in the art.
  • methods of cell breakage including beadmilling, sonication, enzymatic exposure and the like are well known in the art.
  • the "at least one other purification step” may be any other step suitable for protein purification known in the art.
  • purification techniques for the recovery of recombinantly expressed albumin have been disclosed in: WO 92/04367 , removal of matrix-derived dye; EP 464 590 , removal of yeast-derived colorants; EP 319 067 , alkaline precipitation and subsequent application of the albumin to a lipophilic phase; and WO 96/37515 , US 5 728 553 and WO 00/44772 , which describe complete purification processes; all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
  • Suitable methods include ammonium sulphate or ethanol precipitation, acid or solvent extraction, anion or cation exchange chromatography, phosphocellulose chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, affinity chromatography, hydroxyapatite chromatography, lectin chromatography, concentration, dilution, pH adjustment, diafiltration, ultrafiltration, high performance liquid chromatography (“HPLC”), reverse phase HPLC, conductivity adjustment and the like.
  • HPLC high performance liquid chromatography
  • the polypeptide may be purified to a commercially or industrially acceptable level of purity.
  • commercially or industrially acceptable level of purity we include the provision of the thio-albumin and/or thio-albumin-conjugate in which other material (for example, one or more contaminants) are present at a level of less than 50 %, 40 %, 30 %, 20 %, 10 %, 5 %, 4 %, 3 %, 2 %, 1 %, 0.5 %, 0.1 %, 0.01 %, 0.001 %, 0.0001 %, 0.00001 %, or 0.000001 % and, most preferably at a level of 0 %.
  • a commercially or industrially acceptable level of purity may be obtained by a relatively crude purification method by which the protein product of choice is put into a form suitable for its intended purpose.
  • a protein preparation that has been purified to a commercially or industrially acceptable level of purity may, in addition to the protein product of choice, also comprise, for example, cell culture components such as host cells or debris derived therefrom.
  • cell culture components such as host cells or debris derived therefrom.
  • high molecular weight components such as host cells or debris derived therefrom
  • the protein may or may not be purified to achieve a pharmaceutically acceptable level of purity.
  • a protein has a pharmaceutically acceptable level of purity if it is essentially pyrogen free and can be used for its intended purpose and hence be administered in a pharmaceutically efficacious amount without causing medical effects not associated with the activity of the protein.
  • the thio-albumin and/or thio-albumin-conjugate may be provided at a concentration of at least 10 -4 g.L -1 , 10 -3 g.L -1 , 0.01 g.L -1 , 0.02 g.L -1 , 0.03 g.L -1 , 0.04 g.L -1 , 0.05 g.L -1 , 0.06 g.L -1 ,0.07 g.L -1 , 0.08 g.L -1 , 0.09 g.L -1 , 0.1 g.L -1 , 0.2 g.L -1 , 0.3 g.L -1 , 0.4 g.L -1 , 0.5 g.L -1 , 0.6 g.L -1 , 0.7 g.L -1 , 0.8 g.L -1 , 0.9 g.L -1 , 1 g.L -1 , 2 g.L -1 , 3 g.
  • a method of the present invention may or may not further comprise the step of formulating the purified protein product of choice with a carrier or diluent and optionally presenting the thus formulated protein in a unit dosage form.
  • a therapeutically useful protein obtained by a process of the invention is administered alone, it is preferable to present it as a pharmaceutical formulation, together with one or more acceptable carriers or diluents.
  • the carrier(s) or diluent(s) must be "acceptable” in the sense of being compatible with the desired protein.
  • the carriers or diluents will be water or saline which will be sterile and pyrogen free.
  • a method of the present invention may or may not further comprise the step of lyophilising the thus purified protein product of choice.
  • the thio-albumin may be formulated by strategies given in " Protein Formulation and Delivery", E. J. McNally (Ed.), published by Marcel Dekker Inc. New York 2000 and " Rational Design of Stable Protein Formulations - Theory and Practice”; J. F. Carpenter and M. C. Manning (Ed.) Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Vol 13. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York 2002 , Yazdi and Murphy, (1994) Cancer Research 54, 6387-6394 , Widera et al., (2003) Pharmaceutical Research 20, 1231-1238 ; Lee et al., (2005) Arch. Pharm. Res. 28, 722-729 . Examples of formulation methods are as follows:
  • Method #5 Following purification the free thiol containing albumin mutein of the invention or the conjugate can be dialysed against water, freeze dried and stored at 4°C, -20°C or -80°C.
  • Method #6 Following purification the free thiol containing albumin mutein of the invention or the conjugate can be dialysed against 0.01 M - 0.2 M NaCl (pH 7.0 - 8.0), freeze dried and stored at 4°C, -20°C or -80°C.
  • the thio-albumin of the invention (and/or its conjugated form) may be used to produce nanoparticles and/or be entrapped within a nanoparticle or liposome.
  • the thio-albumin of the invention may be used with and/or in and/or as a nanoparticle and/or liposome.
  • a problem of current conjugation strategies is maintaining both the pharmacological and immunological activity of the conjugation partner, such as a bioactive-targeting ligand conjugate.
  • the conjugation partner such as a bioactive-targeting ligand conjugate.
  • conjugation partners There is likely to be a maximum number of protein targeting ligand /bioactive moieties (conjugation partners) possible for conjugation to a protein and if this number is exceeded the targeting ligand does not retain its biological activity.
  • the biological activity of the conjugation partner is not reduced by conjugation to an albumin of the invention.
  • Liposomes and nanoparticles may be used to entrap bioactive compounds. They provide a mechanism for enhanced delivery of drugs such as bioactive compounds, or uptake by target cells and/or a reduction in the toxicity of the free bioactive to non-target organs which may result in an increased therapeutic index and/or reduced side effects.
  • drugs such as bioactive compounds
  • many solvent-based formulations required for the delivery of some bioactive compounds are associated with toxicity which limits the maximum dose which can be given to a patient.
  • Liposome and nanoparticle delivery may also be advantageous for such bioactive compounds, since they would allow larger amounts of the bioactive compound to be delivered whilst avoiding some of the toxicities of solvent-based formulations ( Hawkins et al (2008) Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 60, 8, p876-885 ).
  • Attachment methods may be noncovalent or covalent. Covalent reactions appear to be favourable, because covalent linkage is more stable than noncovalent methods.
  • Lipids for the covalent or non-covalent attachment of proteins, peptides, or drugs to the liposome surface are available commercially (for example Avanti Polar Lipids Inc Alabaster, Alabama, USA). There are 3 major classes of functionality: conjugation through disulphide or thioether formation, amide bond formation, or biotin/streptavidin binding, any of these may be used in the invention.
  • Functionalized lipid anchors commonly added to liposomes include, but are not limited those containing maleimide such as N-[4-(p-maleimidophenyl) butyramide]-PE (N-MPB]-PE) or N-[4-(p-maleimidomethyl) cyclohexane-carboxamide) (MCC-PE) which allow convenient covalent coupling of the targeting moiety via a stable thioether bond ( Martin & Papahadjopoulos (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 286- 288 ).
  • Method #7 Following purification the free thiol containing albumin mutein of the invention or the conjugate can be formulated into nanoparticles prepared according to known procedures for preparing nanoparticles, such as procedures disclosed in WO 2004/071536 A1 and WO 2008/007146 A1 , both incorporated herein by reference.
  • materials for the formation of nanoparticles including but are limited to Poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), and COOH-PLA are commercially available and may be functionalized with maleimide or other known chemistries according to known literature for nanoparticle formation. Any of these may be used in or with the invention.
  • PLA Poly(lactic acid)
  • PLGA poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)
  • COOH-PLA are commercially available and may be functionalized with maleimide or other known chemistries according to known literature for nanoparticle formation. Any of these may be used in or with the invention.
  • Another convenient way for covalent coupling of ligands to liposomes involves conjugation of two thiols to form a disulphide; however under the reductive conditions in serum more stable conjugation chemistries involving one free thiol group may be preferred.
  • Chemistries such as (PDP-PE) allow covalent coupling via a disulphide bond.
  • Modification of the ligand to introduce a free thiol group or a functionalized linker may be used.
  • An advantage of the thio-albumin of the invention is that no ligand modification is required. However, ligand modification may optionally be used in addition to the invention.
  • thiol groups are not present in proteins, or are not present in sufficient amounts or at the desired location.
  • heterobifunctional cross linking agents described herein with reference to conjugation.
  • Some heterobifunctional cross linking agents such as SPDP and SATA require a de-protection step.
  • the thio-albumin of the invention overcomes the requirement for this additional processing.
  • thio-albumin could be conjugated to liposomes or nanoparticles by other chemistries, known to the art.
  • thio-albumin could be attached by an amide bond using a functionalised lipid anchor with either amine or carboxyl functional groups (examples include DSPE-PEG-COOH) which reacts with the primary amine of the ligand.
  • a functionalised lipid anchor with either amine or carboxyl functional groups (examples include DSPE-PEG-COOH) which reacts with the primary amine of the ligand.
  • Direct cross linking between primary amines and the surface of liposomes may also be used.
  • the one or more free thiol groups of thio-albumin would then be available for conjugation to another conjugation partner.
  • a conjugation partner e.g. bioactive molecule
  • a conjugation partner may show a reduction in its activity (e.g. bioactivity).
  • Thio-albumin described in this invention may overcome this problem by providing a conjugate, nanoparticle and/or liposome in which the conjugation partner is located and/or orientated with respect to a thio-albumin such that the conjugation partner retains at least 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 or 100% of its unconjugated activity.
  • conjugation partner' includes bioactive agents, imaging agents, diagnostic agents, contrast agents and therapeutic compounds such as chemotherapeutic drugs and radiopharmaceuticals.
  • a thio-albumin of the invention may be conjugated to one or more conjugation partners.
  • Imaging agents diagnostic compounds, contrast agents and therapeutic compounds
  • a diagnostic agent is any pharmaceutical product used as part of a diagnostic test (i.e. together with the equipment and procedures that are needed to assess the test result).
  • the diagnostic agent may be used in vivo, ex vivo or in vitro.
  • a Gadolinium-DTPA-albumin conjugate may be used as a combined diagnostic and therapeutic tool to visualize and monitor, for example, dystrophic muscle by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and for the delivery of putative therapeutics bound to albumin for effective targeting to dystrophic muscle ( Amthor et al. (2004) Neuromuscular Disorders 14912: 791-796 ). Malignant tumours often show an increased uptake and metabolism of albumin.
  • MRI magnetic resonance imaging
  • the use of gadolinium-albumin conjugate has also been described for improved imaging of malignant tumours and to determine by MRI tumours sensitive to a therapy with drug-conjugated albumin ( Kiessling et al. (2002) Investigative Radiology 37(4): 93-198 ).
  • albumin conjugates may be especially useful to increase the half life of imaging agents and would therefore permit imaging over an extended period of time.
  • WO2005/082423 describes the use of serum albumin conjugated to fluorescent substances for imaging.
  • a thio-albumin of this invention may be conjugated to two or more molecules selected from imaging agents, diagnostic agents, therapeutic compounds and contrast agents.
  • Plasma samples show enhanced uptake of albumin (EPR: Enhanced Permeation and Retention).
  • Albumin conjugates may be used for enhanced imaging, and also to assess whether tumours (or or other tissues and organs) would be suitable for albumin conjugated drugs.
  • the bioactive compound may be a therapeutic or diagnostic compound.
  • the therapeutic compound may be a chemotherapy drug for use in cancer chemotherapy. It may be cytostatic or cytotoxic; it may be a tumor-inhibiting agent.
  • the bioactive compound may already contain a free thiol group, e.g. a polypeptide containing a Cysteine residue with a free thiol group.
  • the bioactive compound may be modified so as to contain a free thiol group.
  • the amino acid sequence of a polypeptide may be altered so as to include a Cysteine residue with a free thiol group, or the bioactive compound may be chemically derivatized to include a free thiol group.
  • the bioactive compound may be a polypeptide (protein), particularly a recombinant protein pharmaceutical. It may be a chemotherapy or radiotherapy drug used to treat cancers and other related diseases.
  • the free thiol containing albumin mutein of the invention can be conjugated via the free thiol group, or groups if the albumin mutein of the invention contains more than one free thiol, to at least one bioactive compound by methods know to the art.
  • the bioactive compound includes but is not limited to, peptides, polypeptides or proteins (either natural, recombinant, or synthetic) ( Debinski, (2002) Cancer Investigation 20, 801-809 , O'Keefe and Draper et al., (1985) JBC 260, 932-937 , Xia et al., (2000) J.
  • nucleic acids and radionuclides including DNA, RNA (including siRNA) and their analogs ( Lee et al., (2005) Arch. Pharm. Res. 28, 722-729 , Huang et al., (2007) FASEB J. 21, 1117-1125 , Daniels, T.R. et al. (2006) Clinical Immunology 121, 159-176 and the references included therein) and devices ( Humphries, et al., (1994) J. Tissue Culture Methods 16, 239-242 and the references included therein). Additionally the entity can itself be modified by methods known to the art.
  • a human C-C chemokine A human L105 chemokine, A human L105 chemokine designated huL105_3.
  • Complement Component C1q C Adenoid-expressed chemokine (ADEC), aFGF;
  • FGF-1 AGF, AGF Protein, albumin, an etoposide, angiostatin, Anthrax vaccine, Antibodies specific for collapsin, antistasin, Anti-TGF beta family antibodies, antithrombin III, APM-1; ACRP-30; Famoxin, apo-lipoprotein species, Arylsulfatase B, b57 Protein, BCMA, Beta-thromboglobulin protein (beta-TG), bFGF; FGF
  • myofibrillar protein Troponin I FSH, Galactosidase, Galectin-4, G-CSF, GDF-1, Gene therapy, Glioma-derived growth factor, glucagon, glucagon-like peptides, Glucocerebrosidase, glucose oxidase, Glucosidase, Glycodelin-A; Progesterone-associated endometrial protein, GM-CSF, gonadotropin, Granulocyte chemotactic protein-2 (GCP-2), Granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor, growth hormone, Growth related oncogene-alpha (GRO-alpha), Growth related oncogene-beta (GRO-beta), Growth related oncogene-gamma (GRO-gamma), hAPO-4; TROY, hCG, Hepatitus B surface Antigen, Hepatitus B Vaccine, HER2 Receptor Mab, hirudin, HIV
  • SMIP Small Modular ImmunoPharmaceutical TM
  • dAb Fab' fragments, F(ab')2, scAb, scFv or scFv fragment
  • IP-10 Interferon gamma-inducible protein
  • interferons such as interferon alpha species and sub-species, interferon beta species and sub-species, interferon gamma species and sub-species
  • interferons such as interferon alpha species and sub-species, interferon beta species and sub-species, interferon gamma species and sub-species
  • interferons such as interferon alpha species and sub-species, interferon beta species and sub-species, interferon gamma species and sub-species
  • Interleukin 6, Interleukin 8 (IL-8) receptor Interleukin 8 receptor B, Interleukin-1alpha, Interleukin-2
  • the albumin may also be fused to one or more purification tags such as (Ala-Trp-Trp-Pro) n , avidin/streptavidin/Strep-tag, BCCP, B-tag (VP7 protein region of bluetongue virus), calmodulin binding protein (CBP), cellulose binding domains (CBD's), chitin binding domain, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase, c-myc, dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), FLAG TM peptide (DYKDDDDK), galactose-binding protein, glutathione-S-transferase (GST), green flourescent protein (GFP), Growth hormone, N-terminus, hemagglutinin influenza virus (HAI), His-patch thioredoxin, His-tag, HSB-tag, KSI, lacZ ( ⁇ -Galactosidase), maltose binding protein (MBP), NusA
  • HSA has ligand binding and esterase activities, as described in " All about Albumin", T. Peters Jr., Academic Press N. Y .
  • the ligand binding properties include binding to anionic and neutral ligands such as long-chain fatty acids, bilirubin and other miscellaneous ligands.
  • the long-chain fatty acids, oleic (C18:1), palmitic (C16:0), linoleic (C18:2), stearic (C18:0), arachidonic (C20:4) and palmitoleic (C16:1) are known to bind HSA.
  • the polypeptide may include insertions, deletions and substitutions, either conservative or non-conservative, where such changes do not substantially reduce the useful ligand-binding, immunological or receptor binding properties of albumin, for example to FcRN, bilirubin and/or a fatty acid.
  • the polypeptide may have at least 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%, 40% or 50%, 60%, 70%, at least 80%, 90%, 95%, 100%, 105% or more of human serum albumin's receptor binding activity, mole for mole.
  • the polypeptide may have increased affinity for an albumin receptor.
  • Ligand binding studies can be performed on HSA and thio-albumins using an isothermal titration calorimetry method that had been suitably qualified for this purpose.
  • Samples can be pre-treated by defatting ( Sogami, M. and J. F. Foster (1968). Biochemistry 7(6): 2172-82 , incorporated herein by reference) followed by thiol blocking ( Sogami, M., H. A. Petersen, et al. (1969). Biochemistry 8(1): 49-58 , incorporated herein by reference) and subsequent gel permeation chromatography.
  • the binding curves generated for thio-albumins and HSA with octanoate, for example, may subsequently be compared, and functional similarity established.
  • the albumin mutein (thio-albumin) of the invention can be covalently linked to one or more conjugation partners such as bioactive compounds by methods known in the art (for example those provided by Pierce, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Rockford, IL, USA; http://www.piercenet.com/files/1601361Crosslink.pdf).
  • thiol reactive group into or onto the conjugation partner, for example by incorporating or engineering another free thiol present on the conjugation partner; or by incorporating or engineering a pyridyl disulphide group on the conjugation partner; or by incorporating or engineering an iodoacetyl group on the bioactive compound or or by incorporating or engineering a maleimide group on the conjugation partner.
  • N-ethylmaleimide (NEM, Pierce), 2-amino-2'-aminoethanethiolsulfonate (Pierce), N-beta-maleimidoprpionic acid (BMPA Pierce), methyl methane thiosulfonate (MMTS, Pierce), fluorescein-5-maleimide (Pierce), 5-iodoacetamido-fluorescein (5-IAF, Pierce) or N-[6-7-amino-4-methylcoumarin-3-acetamido) hexyl]-3'-[2'-pyridyldithio] propionamide (AMCA-HPDP, Pierce).
  • the conjugation partner may be cross-linked to the albumin mutein of the invention by methods known to the art such as, but not limited to, oxidation or by the use of cross-linking reagents such as, but not limited to, 1,4-Bis-maleimidibutane (BMB, Pierce); 1,4-Bis-maleimidyl-2,3-dihydroxybutane (BMDB, Pierce); Bis-maleimidohexane (BMH, Pierce), Bis-maleimidoethane (BMOE, Pierce); 1,8-Bis-Maleimidotriethyleneglycol (BM[PEO]3 Pierce); 1,11-Bis-Maleimidotetraethyleneglycol (BM[PEO]4 Pierce); 1,4-Di-[3'-(2'-pyridyldithio)-propionamido]butane (DPDPB, Pierce); dithuio-bis-maleimidoethane (BMB, Pierce); 1,4-Bis-maleimi
  • the conjugation partner does not contain a thiol reactive group then it may be modified to incorporate one or more such groups by either chemical modification or genetic engineering by methods know to the art ( Chapman, A.P. (2002) Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev., 54 531-545 : Humphreys, D.P. et al. Protein Engineering, Design & Selection vol. 20 no. 5 pp. 227-234, 2007 ). While these two references describe methodologies to cross-link PEG to an engineered free thiol within an antibody or antibody fragment, the techniques may be used to cross-link a conjugation partner to an engineered free thiol within the albumin mutein of the invention.
  • DAC TM Drug Affinity Complex
  • ConjuChem Inc. (Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H2X 3Y8)
  • DAC TM construct There are three parts of each DAC TM construct: 1) the drug component (the portion responsible for biologic activity); 2) a linker attached to the drug component, and 3) a reactive chemistry group at the opposite end of the linker, usually a soft electrophile selective for thiols; a maleimide is the most useful embodiment.
  • Other applicable conjugation methods are described in WO2007/071068 incorporated herein by reference.
  • the conjugation partner does not contain a thiol reactive group but does contain one or more amino groups then it may be modified to incorporate one or more thiol reactive groups by chemical modification by methods known to the art such as the use of cross-linking reagents such as, but not limited to, N-5-azido-2-nitrobenzoyloxysuccinimide (AMAS, Pierce), N-[beta-maleimidopropyloxy] succinimide ester (BMPS, Pierce), N-eta-maleimidocaproic acid (EMCA, Pierce), N-[eta-maleimidocaproyloxy]succinimide ester (EMCS, Pierce), N-[eta-maleimidocaproyloxy]sulfosuccinimide ester (sulfo-EMCS, Pierce), N-[gamma-maleimidobutyryloxy]succinimide ester (GMBS, Pierce), N-[gamma-maleimidobutyryloxy]
  • the conjugation partner does not contain a thiol reactive group but does contain one or more carbonyl (oxidised carbohydrate) groups then it can be modified to incorporate one or more thiol reactive groups by chemical modification by methods known to the art such as the use of cross-linking reagents such as, but not limited to, N-[eta-maleimidocaproic acid]hydrazide (EMCH, Pierce), 4-[N-maleimidomethyl]cyclohexane-1carboxylhydrazide•HCl•1/2 dioxane (M2C2H, Pierce), 3-maleimidophenyl boronic acid (MPBH, Pierce) and 3-[2-pyridyldithio]propionyl hydrazide (PDPH, Pierce).
  • cross-linking reagents such as, but not limited to, N-[eta-maleimidocaproic acid]hydrazide (EMCH, Pierce), 4-[N-maleimidomethyl]cyclohexane-1
  • the conjugation partner does not contain a thiol reactive group but does contain one or more hydroxyl groups then it may be modified to incorporate one or more thiol reactive groups by chemical modification by methods known to the art such as the use of cross-linking reagents such as, but not limited to, N-[p-maleimidophenyl]isocyanate (PMPI, Pierce).
  • cross-linking reagents such as, but not limited to, N-[p-maleimidophenyl]isocyanate (PMPI, Pierce).
  • the conjugation competence of polypeptides of the invention may be tested by fluorescent labelling and cellular uptake, as described by McGraw et al., (1987), The Journal of Cell Biology, 105, 207-214 and Presley et al., (1993), The Journal of Cell Biology, 122, 1231-1241 .
  • Other methods of testing conjugation competence include conjugating the albumin to another molecule such as HRP. Subsequently, the mass of the resultant conjugate and/or the activity of the conjugated compound may be assayed, for example by mass spectrometry or by enzyme assay.
  • a host strain suitable for use in the present invention includes an hsp150-deficient version of DXY1, disclosed in S. M. Kerry-Williams et al. (1998) Yeast 14:161-169 .
  • WO 95/33833 teaches the skilled person how to prepare hsp150 -deficient yeast. This host strain may be referred to as 'Strain 1'.
  • the HSA coding sequence is obtainable by known methods for isolating cDNA corresponding to human genes, and is also disclosed in, for example, EP 0 073 646 and EP 0 286 424 .
  • Expression plasmids for albumin variants of this invention can be constructed in a similar way to pDB2244 described in WO 00/44772 or pDB2305 described in WO/2006/013859 for expression of human serum albumin from S. cerevisiae. Plasmid pDB2305 contains the HSA sequence codon-optimised for expression in S. cerevisiae. Alternative codon optimisation methods may be used for the particular host organism selected for thio-albumin production.
  • Expression plasmids for albumin variants of this invention can also be constructed in a similar way to those described in WO 2005/061719 A1 for improved expression of human serum albumin from S. cerevisiae.
  • Thio-albumin muteins can be made following modification of plasmid pDB2244 ( Fig. 7 ) or pDB2305 by site directed mutagenesis.
  • Overlapping mutagenic oligonucleotide sequences can be used to modify the codon of the selected residue(s) to any DNA sequence which encodes a cysteine residue (TGT or TGC) using the procedures indicated by a commercially available kit (such as Stratagene's Quikchange TM Kit).
  • synthetic DNA fragments can be manufactured containing the desired modifications to the polynucleotide sequence.
  • Plasmids pDB2243 and pDB2244 contain the native HSA gene.
  • the expression cassette may or may not be codon optimised; methods for constructing expression plasmids containing HSA codon optimised for expression in S. cerevisiae are described in WO/2006/013859 .
  • the native nucleotide sequence encoding HSA is provided in SEQ ID No. 2.
  • a HSA nucleotide sequence codon-optimised for expression in S. cerevisiae is provided as SEQ ID No. 3.
  • Plasmid pDB2243 (6.203kb) was digested to completion using restriction endonucleases Notl to release the 2.992 kb human serum albumin expression cassette.
  • Plasmid pSAC35 is derivative of pSAC3 by Chinery and Hinchliffe (1989) Curr. Genet. 16, 21-25 , and in EP 286424 .
  • Plasmid pSAC35 (11.037 kb) was digested to completion with restriction endonuclease Notl and dephosphorylated using calf alkaline intestinal phosphatase and ligated with the 2.992kb Notl human serum albumin expression cassette to produce 14.037 kb pDB2244 which has the human serum albumin expression cassette orientated in the same direction as the LEU2 gene ( Fig. 7 ).
  • the expression cassette may or may not be codon optimised and that the expression cassette may or may not be cloned in either orientation in the expression vector as part of this invention.
  • Plasmid pDB2690 (13.018kb) was digested to completion with restriction endonuclease Notl and dephosphorylated using calf alkaline intestinal phosphatase and ligated with the 2.992kb Not I human serum albumin expression cassette to produce a 16.039 kb plasmid pDB2713 which has the human serum albumin expression cassette orientated in the same direction as the LEU2 gene ( Fig. 9 ).
  • the expression cassette may or may not be codon optimised and that the expression cassette may or may not be cloned in either orientation in the expression vector as part of this invention.
  • plasmids for thio-albumin (i.e. conjugation competent albumin) variants of this invention could be made by subcloning synthesized DNA fragments into plasmid pDB2243 ( Fig. 8 ) prior to cloning into pSAC35 or pDB2690.
  • a method for the construction of a thio-albumin subcloning plasmid containing one extra conjugation competent cysteine (relative to SEQ ID No. 1) is described, by way of example only, below
  • the albumin DNA sequence of pDB2243 includes two Hind III restriction endonuclease sites.
  • the synthetic DNA may be modified such that the human serum albumin protein encoding sequence is modified at a selected codon to a cysteine codon, or an existing cysteine codon is deleted or modified to a codon for another amino acid.
  • the coding sequence for the mature thio-albumin may be extended at the 5' or 3' end(s) or insertions made within the polypeptide to add novel sequence(s) coding for cysteine or polypeptides containing one or more cysteine .
  • synthetic DNA may be modified such that the human serum albumin protein encoding sequence is modified at a selected cysteine codon to an alternative codon to create an unpaired cysteine.
  • synthetic DNA may be modified such that the human serum albumin protein encoding sequence is modified by substitution of two codons at a specified site to a cysteine codon (the amino acid chain length is reduced).
  • synthetic DNA may be modified such that the human serum albumin protein encoding sequence (e.g. SEQ ID No. 2 or SEQ ID No. 3 in relation to HSA) is modified by insertion of a cysteine codon at a specified site (the amino acid chain length is increased).
  • Plasmid pDB2243 may be digested to completion with Hind III restriction endonuclease and the fragment (approximately 4.383kb ) is recovered and dephosphorylated, the synthetic DNA containing the appropriate modification to the human serum albumin encoding sequence may then be cloned to produce the required thio-albumin subcloning plasmid.
  • the thio-albumin subcloning plasmid may then be digested to produce an expression cassette, which may be cloned into a suitable expression plasmid in a similar manner to the construction of pDB2244, pDB2305 or pDB2713.
  • a S. cerevisiae strain e.g. Strain 1
  • pDB2244 WO 00/44772
  • pDB2305 WO/2006/013859
  • Yeast may be transformed using a modified lithium acetate method (Sigma yeast transformation kit, YEAST-1, protocol 2; Ito et al, 1983, J. Bacteriol., 153, 16 ; Elble, 1992, Biotechniques, 13, 18 ).
  • Transformants may be selected on BMMD-agar plates, and subsequently patched out on BMMD-agar plates.
  • BMMD The composition of BMMD is described by Sleep et al., 2002, Yeast, 18, 403 .
  • Cryopreserved stocks may be prepared in 20% (w/v) trehalose from 10mL BMMD shake flask cultures (24 hours, 30°C, 200rpm).
  • EXAMPLE 2 EXPRESSION OF ALBUMIN MUTEINS WITH SINGLE AMINO ACID
  • Thio-albumin variants with single amino acid changes were selected from Tables 5A, 5B and 6A. These variants were identified as the preferred mutations according to the methods described above. Details of each variant are given in Figure 11 , which provides a Construct Reference (e.g. TA1 for rHA A2C), the name of the plasmid encoding each thio-albumin variant expression construct and flanking sequences required for in vivo recombination by gap-repair, and the number given to a cryopreserved yeast stock (the yeast stock number) producing each thio-albumin variant. Details of the mutant codons compared to SEQ ID No. 2 are also provided, as are the SEQ ID numbers for each thio-albumin variant (DNA and protein).
  • the equivalent positions to a particular position in HSA may be determined from an alignment including human serum albumin (SEQ ID No. 1) such as Figures 2 and 3 .
  • SEQ ID No. 1 human serum albumin
  • the skilled person is familiar with alignments and can readily determine whether or not an amino acid in a sequence is equivalent to an amino acid in another sequence.
  • the position of the amino acid in the non-human albumin is not necessarily the same relative to the N-terminal end of HSA.
  • position 239 of HSA is an alanine residue
  • the corresponding residue of the bovine sequence is serine-238.
  • valine-479 of HSA corresponds to leucine-478 of sheep albumin.
  • the plasmid pDB3927 ( Figure 12 ) was constructed from plasmid pDB2244 ( Figure 7 , WO 0044772A , 'FL': fusion leader sequence). pDB2244 was digested with restriction enzymes Swa I and Hpa I (both produce blunt ends) and self-ligated to form pDB3927. To create plasmid pDB3964 ( Figure 13 ) restriction enzyme sites were modified in the albumin DNA sequence (SEQ ID No. 2) of pDB3927 without modifying the protein sequence, as outlined below. The resultant DNA sequence is sequence ID No. 4.
  • Re-striction site SEQ ID No. SEQ ID No. 4 Position a Sac II : GAGT CAGCTG AAAA ⁇ (to) GAGT CCGCGG AAAA (bp 173-178) b Nhe I/ Bmt I: AAG GCTTCG TCTGC ⁇ (to) AAG GCTAGC TCTGC (bp 571-576) c Xho I: TCT GCTTGAA TGTGC ⁇ (to) TCTG CTCGAG TGTGC (bp 751-756) d Bam HI: GTG GGCAG CAAAT ⁇ (to) GTG GGATC CAAAT (bp 751-756) e Sal I: GGAA GTCGAT GAAA ⁇ (to) GGAAG TCGA CGAAA (bp 1477- 1482)
  • the coding sequence of HSA in pDB3964 is provided as SEQ ID No. 4.
  • DNA synthesis and cloning was used to generate pDB3964 from pDB3927 (DNA2.0 Inc, USA).
  • Synthetic DNA fragments were designed to alter specific amino acid codons within the albumin gene of pDB3964, or with combinations of modifications (see Example 3 below).
  • DNA fragments containing these modifications were synthesised (DNA 2.0 Inc, USA) and cloned into pDB3964 to produce plasmids containing the thio-albumin sequences ( Figure 11 ).
  • the plasmid pDB3853 (not shown) was constructed from base vector pDB2690 (Ref DB88 / WO2005/061719A1 ) and the synthetic linker described below.
  • the synthetic linker was constructed from two oligonucleotides (Sigma-Genosys) annealed in distilled water using a temperature gradient from 96°C to room temperature (1 min per 1°C).
  • pDB2690 was digested using Kpn I and Not I , and purified by gel extraction (Qiagen), before ligation of the annealed linker: 'Kpn I (linker) Bam HI Not I' 5' - CGCTAGCCTCGAGGTTTAAACGCTAGCGAGCTC GGATCC -3' 3' - CATGG CGATCGGAGCTCCAAATTTGCGATCGCTCGAGCCTAGG CCGG -5'
  • pDB3936 was linearised with restriction enzymes Acc 65I and Bam HI before purification of the 9721 bp fragment following separation by agarose gel electrophoresis.
  • concentrations of the linearised pDB3936 and each of the BsrBl-BstEll fragments encoding the thio-albumin coding sequences was calculated and 100ng of each use for each yeast transformation reaction.
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain BXP10 was used as the expression host throughout ( So-low, S. P., J. Sengbusch, et al. (2005). "Heterologous protein production from the inducible MET25 promoter in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.” Biotechnol Prog 21(2): 617-20 .), although alternative expression hosts are also be suitable.
  • Cryopreserved stocks of S. cerevisiae BXP10 were prepared from 10mL YEPPD (1% w/v yeast extract, 2% w/v plant peptone, 2% w/v dextrose)) shake flask cultures (grown for 24 hours, 30°C, 200rpm) mixed with an equal volume of 40% w/v sterile trehalose solution and dispensed in 1mL aliquots for storage at -80°C.
  • the pellet was resuspended in 3mL TE/LiAc (10mM Tris, 1mM EDTA, pH7; 500mM lithium acetate) and glycerol added to a final concentration of 15% (v/v), before storage in aliquots at -80°C.
  • S. cerevisiae BXP10 cells were transformed to leucine prototrophy using a modified lithium acetate method ( Elble, R. "A simple and efficient procedure for transformation of yeasts.” Biotechniques 13.1 (1992): 18-20 . Ito, H., et al. "Transformation of intact yeast cells treated with alkali cations.” J.Bacteriol. 153.1 (1983): 163-68 .). 50 ⁇ l of thawed competent cells were aliquoted into a 48-well microtitre plate (Nunc) before the addition of DNA fragments for gap-repair, as described above. The plate was mixed by swirling of the plate while flat on a benchtop.
  • Single colony transformants were picked and patched onto fresh BMMD agar plates for short term storage. These patches were grown at 30°C and cells then inoculated into 10mL BMMD shake flask cultures and cryopreserved as described earlier. 10 ⁇ l of yeast stock was inoculated into a 48-well plate containing 0.5mL BMMD per well. Growth of cultures in microtitre plates was achieved in a humidity chamber which was a sealed Perspex box containing wet paper towels to provide -100% humidity and evaporative loss below 0.25% over 5 days under growth conditions. The plates were incubated in the shaking humidity chamber (30°C, 200rpm,) for 5 days at 30°C. The 48-well plate was centrifuged to pellet cells (2000xg, 10 min, room temperature) and the supernatant was harvested.
  • the concentration of the thio-albumin variants in the culture supernatants was determined by Gel Permeation High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (GP-HPLC). Protein concentrations were determined using a LC2010 HPLC system (Shimadzu) equipped with UV detection under Shimadzu VP7.3 client server software control. Injections of 25 ⁇ L were made onto a 7.8mm internal diameter x 300mm length TSK G3000SWXL column (Tosoh Bioscience), with a 6.0mm internal diameter x 40mm length TSK SW guard column (Tosoh Bioscience).
  • GP-HPLC Gel Permeation High Pressure Liquid Chromatography
  • Samples were chromatographed in 25mM sodium phosphate, 100mM sodium sulphate, 0.05% (w/v) sodium azide, pH 7.0 at 1mL.min -1 , with a run time of 15 minutes. Samples were quantified by UV detection at 280nm, by peak height, relative to a recombinant human albumin standard of known concentration (10mg/mL).
  • Figure 16 describes an additional selection of thio-albumin variants with two or more free-thiol groups. Mutations shown to be expressed in Example 2 above were combined to generate sequences designed to have multiple free-thiol groups available for conjugation.
  • This selection includes thio-albumin variants designed to have up to five free-thiol groups, thio-albumin variants designed to have free-thiol groups from within one Selection Group or from more than one Selection Group, thio-albumin variants designed to have free-thiol groups with and without the naturally occurring free-thiol at C34 of HSA, thio-albumin variants designed to have free-thiol groups from a range of Proximity Groups, and thio-albumin variants designed to have free-thiol groups derived from insertions, extensions, additions and/or deletions.
  • Figure 17 shows a non-reducing SDS-PAGE analysis and the expression titres (by GP-HPLC) for each of these additional thio-albumin variants compared against an rHA control (pDB3927 coding sequnce).
  • EXAMPLE 4 PRODUCTION, PURIFICATION AND CONJUGATION OF THIO-ALBUMIN VARIANTS
  • Cells were transferred from the shake flask to the fermenter (10L working volume, Sartorius Biostat C 10-3 fermenter) when the concentration of cells in the shake flask has reached 0.8-1.2g/L achieving a cell inocula concentration of ⁇ 10mg/L (greater than or equal to 10mg/L) in the fermenter.
  • the thio-albumin variants proteins were produced by axenic culture of each of the five yeast strains in high cell density (HCD) fed-batch fermentation.
  • HCD high cell density
  • the aim of the fermentation was to achieve maximum biomass and productivity by controlling feed rate addition so that formation of byproducts such as ethanol and acetate were avoided. Further details of the fermentation process are described in WO96/37515 .
  • the temperature and pH were controlled at 30°C and pH5.5 respectively. Culture supernatant was harvested by centrifugation using a Sorvall RC 3C centrifuge (DuPont) and frozen for storage, before being thawed for subsequent purification.
  • a single step chromatography procedure was used to prepare material suitable for mass spectrometry.
  • This purification step used a column (bed volume approximately 200 ⁇ L) packed with AlbuPure TM matrix (ProMetic BioSciences Ltd, Cambridge UK or Novozymes Biophama UK Ltd.). This was equilibrated with 50mM sodium phosphate, pH5.3, and loaded with neat culture supernatants, at approximately pH5.5-6.5, to approximately 40mg protein/mL matrix. The column was washed with approximately 3 column volumes each of 50mM sodium phosphate, pH5.3, and 50mM ammonium acetate, pH8.0, respectively.
  • Bound protein was eluted using approximately 5 column volumes of 50mM ammonium acetate, 10mM octanoate, pH7.0.
  • the flow rate for the load step was 137 ⁇ L/min, while the wash and elution steps were performed by means of centrifugal force, using a Heraeus Multifuge 3 centrifuge at 300 rpm. Final concentrations were in the range 1.8-4.0 mg/mL and samples were approximately 2mL volume. Free thiol determination was performed immediately after sample elution by following the procedure described below.
  • the number of free thiols on a protein can be determined spectrophotometrically using Ellman's reagent.
  • Ellman's reagent (5'5'-dithio-bis(2-nitronenzoic acid) (DTNB)) is an aromatic disulphide which reacts with thiol groups to form a mixed disulphide of the protein and one mole of 5-thio-2-nitrobenzoic acid (TNB) (per mole of protein sulfhydryl group). This reaction also results in a yellow colour from free TNB being released in solution.
  • the number of free thiols on a protein can be determined using mass spectrometric analysis of protein sample treated with DTNB reagent.
  • NTB 5-thio-2-nitrobenzoic acid
  • TNB labelled and unlabelled samples were prepared for mass spectrometric analysis by desalting/concentrating using Solid Phase Extaction (SPE).
  • SPE columns were prepared by first wetting with 1mL of 70% Acetonitrile (ACN Fisher) / 0.1% TFA and then equilibrating ready for loading with 0.1% TFA. 1mL of sample was loaded on the equilibrated SPE columns allowing time for the protein to bind. The bound protein and SPE columns were then washed three times in 1mL of 0.1% Formic acid (Merck). Finally the bound protein was eluted into pre-washed 1mL microfuge tube with 0.5mL 70% ACN/0.1%FA.
  • Time-of-Flight mass spectrometry 30 ⁇ L of sample was introduced into a hybrid quadru-pole time-of flight mass spectrometer (QqOaTOF, Applied Biosystems, QSTAR-XL ® ), equipped with an IonSprayTM source in positive ion mode, using flow injection analysis (FIA).
  • the only instrument parameter that is actively tuned is the Decoupling Potential (DP), typically set to 250 V. Typically 2 minutes of sample scans are averaged.
  • DP Decoupling Potential
  • the TOF analyser is calibrated against protonated molecular ions of equine myoglobin (Sigma) and resolution is typically >14,000. Instrument control and data acquisition and processing were performed using AnalystTM QS v1.1 software (Applied Biosystems).
  • thio-albumin variants produced at higher fermentation yields were preferred for analysis by the mass spectroscopy method described above. Therefore, the recombinant proteins rHA (A2C, L585C) (total of 3 free thiols), rHA (D129C, C360S, L585C) (total of 4 free thiols), and A2C rHA-Cys (total of 3 free thiols) were analysed by ESI TOF (electrospray ionsation time of flight) mass spectrometry pre- and post-DTNB treatment to determine the numbers of free thiols present on each molecule.
  • ESI TOF electrospray ionsation time of flight
  • the rHA (A2C, L558C) thio-albumin variant is particularly surprising in that it provides more than the expected number of reactive groups available for conjugation. Also present is a series of peaks ⁇ 396Da apart which are due to excess DTNB still present at the time of ionisation causing DTNB adduct formation with the labelled rHA (A2C, L558C) molecule. This adduct formation is known to occur in the presence of excess DTNB.
  • conjugation competent cysteines can be in regions of that may or may not have secondary structure, and/or may or may not be generated from natural disulphide bonds, and/or may or may not be additional cysteines residues (such as cysteine residues extending from the natural C-terminus of HSA).

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